SVG_logoScalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is one of the latest trends in the field of web development. The SVG was officially released in the year in 2001 and after that it has gained immense popularity among the web designers. This file is an XML map which is used to describe a 2-D graphical image. It serves as instruction that can be used for designing images, which are viewed on different software across different operating systems and browsers. With the advent of responsive web designing, you can view the website across different devices, which allows users to scroll, pan and zoom the viewing option of the device for providing a good user experience.

Independent of resolution

For the responsive websites, it is not about the site fitting in these devices or the rearranging the flow of the content as per the device but also about the resolution of the images. In this regard, SVG is the perfect solution and need for the future. This form of vector graphics utilizes XML that helps in designing shapes, fonts, paths and features like the gradients, animations, scripting and filters. You can create the file in any operating system and then scale up the resolution across different browsers and devices. Create a single image and you can scale it for a plethora of retina devices or those with smaller screens.

XML codes are used

Since it is in the vector format, this format cannot be used for photographs. Since it is written with XML code, if required, you can manipulate the image with the use of code editor. Thus, you have the option of creating animation with the help of complex manipulation, which is otherwise not possible with the raster images. The SVG images can be accessed with the client-side script, so you can also manipulate the same with the use of JavaScript. Being polychromatic in nature, you can use a wide range of colors while designing.

Quality of the image is uniform

Though in comparison to the bitmap images the SVG is underused by the designers, but it has a number of advantages attached to it. SVG does not depend on resolution like raster graphics or bitmaps. The latter gets pixelated when they are resized in different devices as they are built on pixel. But, the SVG is based on a mathematical equation, so even if you scale to any level of zoom, the quality of the image remains constant. With the help of svg tag, the image is embedded in the HTML code, so it does not take much time while loading the website and also the browser do not have to request the load the graphic.

Images can be easily edited

Since a SVG tag is used, you can style these graphics through CSS. Procedure of the change in the background, borders, or the color is similar to the procedure that you follow in HTML tags. With the help of JavaScript library or jQuery, you can even animate the SVG object. Different graphic software and editors of text codes can be used to edit these objects. Compared to the bitmaps, scalable vector graphics have a small file size. These images are also open sourced, so you need not purchase any software to use these images with ant text editor you can edit the graphics.

SEO friendly images

You can also draw basic shapes like circle, line, rectangle, polyline, polygon and ellipse, these graphics, only you need to insert the element within the svg tags. Other benefit of the vector graphics is that they are SEO friendly. Similar to the descriptions and text labels, the browsers can search these images and index the same. SVG formats used for icons and fonts can be implemented in different web designs. This format is even accessible to people with visual disability with the help of software that recognizes the voice. The latest versions of different browsers support the SVG images. Owing to these reasons, the future of the use of SVG images seems to be bright.

Best for logo

SVG graphics are best for designing a logo. Logos should be of high quality and should have sharpness, and if is blown up or reduced to a small size, it should not be pixelated. You also have the option of a number of interaction options like animations, scripts, filters for the SVG images. But make sure that do not make the image complex as it takes a long time to load in the browser. SVG being XML based, they can deliver the graphics from the database so the images can be updated immediately.

Updates images automatically

In short, the sites contain graphics that can be updated as per the change in the data. Weather maps that are enabled by these graphics explain this activity. If you have love for mathematics and coding then open the text editor and start writing the XML codes. To ease your process of coding the SVG images, you can take help of few online tutorials and JavaScript libraries. There are also few graphic tools and online publisher that can also be helpful in this regard.

About the Contributor: Jonathan Brandon is a web designers and he highlights different aspects of web designing. He has elucidated the methods and trends that should be adapted to make a cool website designs.