Network Working Group A. Rossi
Internet-Draft RFC Series Consulting Editor
Obsoletes: 7996 (if approved) N. Brownlee
Intended status: Informational
Expires: 17 August 2025 J. Mahoney
RFC Production Center
M. Thomson
13 February 2025
SVGs in RFCs
draft-rossi-svgsinrfcs-01
Abstract
This document sets policy for the inclusion of SVGs in the definitive
versions of RFCs and relevant publication formats. It contains
policy requirements from [RFC7996] and removes all requirements
related to using a specific SVG profile or specific implementation
code. It also makes the RFC Publication Center (RPC) responsible for
implementation decisions regarding SVGs.
About This Document
This note is to be removed before publishing as an RFC.
The latest revision of this draft can be found at
https://github.com/alexisannerossi/id-svgsinrfcs/blob/main/
svgsinrfcs.md. Status information for this document may be found at
https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-rossi-svgsinrfcs/.
Discussion of this document takes place on the RSWG Editorial Stream
Working Group mailing list (mailto:rswg@rfc-editor.org), which is
archived at https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/rswg/.
Source for this draft and an issue tracker can be found at
https://github.com/alexisannerossi/id-svgsinrfcs.
Status of This Memo
This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute
working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet-
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Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
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This Internet-Draft will expire on 17 August 2025.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2025 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/
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Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Policy Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. Implementation Guidance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
5. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
6. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1. Introduction
This document sets policy for the inclusion of SVGs (Scalable Vector
Graphics) in the definitive versions of RFCs and relevant publication
formats. It contains policy requirements taken from [RFC7996] and
removes all requirements related to using a specific SVG profile or
specific implementation code.
SVG has been developed by W3C, the World Wide Web Consortium
[ABOUT-SVG].
The RFC Publication Center (RPC) is responsible for making SVG
tooling and implementation decisions. They may want to use the
content of [RFC7996] as a starting point for those decisions, but
they are not bound by [RFC7996] and they may change elements of the
implementation as needed to support the RFC authoring community as
long as those changes are aligned with the policy requirements in
this document.
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2. Policy Requirements
SVG tooling and implementation decisions are made or overseen by the
RPC, and must adhere to the policy requirements in this document.
* SVGs may be included in RFCs to help explain a concept more
clearly, but cannot be the only representation of that concept and
must not contain details relevant to the RFC that are not also
represented in the text. Normative descriptions of protocols,
systems, etc. must be fully represented in the text of the RFC,
and must not be contingent on comprehension of any SVG. SVGs are
never to be considered as specifications in themselves.
* SVGs must remain static after publication of the RFC, so there may
be interactive, multimedia, or other elements that cannot be used.
* Images and diagrams in RFCs should be successfully rendered and
understood by the widest audience possible. To that end, the RPC
may prohibit the use of SVG features that are known to lack
support on common devices, that do not render on small or low-
resolution screens, or that could make diagrams less
comprehensible for any significant readership. This includes:
- SVGs must not contain pointers to external resources.
- SVGs must not contain executable script.
- SVGs should be as accessible as possible to people with visual
disabilities, including those who have color blindness, those
who need to scale or change fonts, and those who use screen
reading software. The RPC will refer to the W3C Accessibility
Guidelines [WAI] when making decisions regarding accessibility.
* Authors may include multiple versions of images or diagrams in
rfcxml. Publication formats should present the version that is
best suited to each format. In many cases, that will be an SVG.
* SVG vocabulary and implementation may change over time. Changes
are not required to remain backwards-compatible, although
maintaining compatibility where possible is encouraged.
The RPC is authorized to place constraints on SVG usage in RFCs for
both technical and editorial reasons in order to ensure that
published RFCs meet the above policy and to provide consistency
across the RFC series. The RPC must document the acceptable usage of
SVGs, and all changes to tooling or implementation decisions must be
widely communicated to the RFC author community using mailing lists
or other means.
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3. Implementation Guidance
The RPC is expected to solicit community input before making
decisions and to publicly explain their reasoning.
Documentation produced by the RPC should describe what technical and
editorial constraints apply to SVGs and provide RFC authors with
guidance on how to produce diagrams that meet these constraints.
The RPC's implementation should strive to allow SVGs produced by
widely used drawing tools. Where possible, implementation decisions
should focus on specifying what is disallowed, rather than attempting
to specify exactly what is allowed.
The RPC should periodically review and revise their practices.
4. Security Considerations
This document has no security considerations.
5. IANA Considerations
This document has no IANA actions.
6. Informative References
[ABOUT-SVG]
W3C, "About SVG", n.d.,
<https://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/About>.
[RFC7996] Brownlee, N., "SVG Drawings for RFCs: SVG 1.2 RFC",
RFC 7996, DOI 10.17487/RFC7996, December 2016,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7996>.
[WAI] W3C, "W3C Accessibility Standards Overview", n.d.,
<https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/>.
Authors' Addresses
Alexis Rossi
RFC Series Consulting Editor
Email: rsce@rfc-editor.org
Nevil Brownlee
Email: nevil.brownlee@gmail.com
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Jean Mahoney
RFC Production Center
Email: jmahoney@staff.rfc-editor.org
Martin Thomson
Email: mt@lowentropy.net
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