This page illustrates the application of CSS to the specialized language for creating graphics: SVG.

You create a simple demonstration that runs in your SVG-enabled browser.

This is the 2nd section of Part II of the CSS tutorial.
Previous section: JavaScript
Next section: XML data

Information: SVG

SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) is an XML-based language for creating graphics.

It can be used for static images, and also for animations and user interfaces.

Like other XML-based languages, SVG supports CSS stylesheets so that you can separate the style of a graphic from its content.

Also, stylesheets that you use with other document markup languages can specify the URL of an SVG graphic where an image is required. For example, a stylesheet that you use with an HTML document can specify the URL of an SVG graphic in the value of a background property.

More details

At the time of writing (mid 2011), most modern browsers have basic support for SVG, including Internet Explorer 9 or later. Some SVG features are supported only partially or not at all on some browsers. See the SVG tables on caniuse.com for an overview of SVG support, or the compatibility tables in the SVG element reference for support of specific items.

You can add SVG support to other versions by installing a plugin such as the one provided by Adobe.

For more information about SVG in Mozilla, see the SVG page in this wiki.

Action: An SVG demonstration

Make a new SVG document as a plain text file, doc8.svg. Copy and paste the content from here, making sure that you scroll to get all of it:

<?xml version="1.0" standalone="no"?>

<?xml-stylesheet type="text/css" href="style8.css"?>

<!DOCTYPE svg PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD SVG 1.1//EN"
  "http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/1.1/DTD/svg11.dtd">

<svg width="600px" height="600px" viewBox="-300 -300 600 600"
  xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" version="1.1"
  xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">

<title>SVG demonstration</title>
<desc>Mozilla CSS Getting Started - SVG demonstration</desc>

<defs>
  <g id="segment" class="segment">
    <path class="segment-fill" d="M0,0 v-200 a40,40 0 0,0 -62,10 z"/>
    <path class="segment-edge" d="M0,-200 a40,40 0 0,0 -62,10"/>
    </g>
  <g id="quadrant">
    <use xlink:href="#segment"/>
    <use xlink:href="#segment" transform="rotate(18)"/>
    <use xlink:href="#segment" transform="rotate(36)"/>
    <use xlink:href="#segment" transform="rotate(54)"/>
    <use xlink:href="#segment" transform="rotate(72)"/>
    </g>
  <g id="petals">
    <use xlink:href="#quadrant"/>
    <use xlink:href="#quadrant" transform="rotate(90)"/>
    <use xlink:href="#quadrant" transform="rotate(180)"/>
    <use xlink:href="#quadrant" transform="rotate(270)"/>
    </g>
  <radialGradient id="fade" cx="0" cy="0" r="200"
      gradientUnits="userSpaceOnUse">
    <stop id="fade-stop-1" offset="33%"/>
    <stop id="fade-stop-2" offset="95%"/>
    </radialGradient>
  </defs>

<text id="heading" x="-280" y="-270">
  SVG demonstration</text>
<text  id="caption" x="-280" y="-250">
  Move your mouse pointer over the flower.</text>

<g id="flower">
  <circle id="overlay" cx="0" cy="0" r="200"
    stroke="none" fill="url(#fade)"/>
  <use id="outer-petals" xlink:href="#petals"/>
  <use id="inner-petals" xlink:href="#petals"
    transform="rotate(9) scale(0.33)"/>
  </g>

</svg>

Make a new CSS file, style8.css. Copy and paste the content from here, making sure that you scroll to get all of it:

/*** SVG demonstration ***/

/* page */
svg {
  background-color: beige;
  }

#heading {
  font-size: 24px;
  font-weight: bold;
  }

#caption {
  font-size: 12px;
  }

/* flower */
#flower:hover {
  cursor: crosshair;
  }

/* gradient */
#fade-stop-1 {
  stop-color: blue;
  }

#fade-stop-2 {
  stop-color: white;
  }

/* outer petals */
#outer-petals {
  opacity: .75;
  }

#outer-petals .segment-fill {
  fill: azure;
  stroke: lightsteelblue;
  stroke-width: 1;
  }

#outer-petals .segment-edge {
  fill: none;
  stroke: deepskyblue;
  stroke-width: 3;
  }

#outer-petals .segment:hover > .segment-fill {
  fill: plum;
  stroke: none;
  }

#outer-petals .segment:hover > .segment-edge {
  stroke: slateblue;
  }

/* inner petals */
#inner-petals .segment-fill {
  fill: yellow;
  stroke: yellowgreen;
  stroke-width: 1;
  }

#inner-petals .segment-edge {
  fill: none;
  stroke: yellowgreen;
  stroke-width: 9;
  }

#inner-petals .segment:hover > .segment-fill {
  fill: darkseagreen;
  stroke: none;
  }

#inner-petals .segment:hover > .segment-edge {
  stroke: green;
  }

Open the document in your SVG-enabled browser. Move your mouse pointer over the graphic.

This wiki does not support SVG in pages, so it is not possible to show the demonstration here. The graphic looks like this:

SVG demonstration

Notes about this demonstration:

  • The SVG document links the stylesheet in the usual way.
  • SVG has its own CSS properties and values. Some of them are similar to CSS properties for HTML.
Challenge
Change the stylesheet so that the inner petals all turn pink when the mouse pointer is over any one of them, without changing the way the outer petals work.

See a solution to this challenge.

What next?

In this demonstration, your SVG-enabled browser already knows how to display SVG elements. The stylesheet only modifies the display in certain ways. This is also true for HTML and XUL documents. But you can use CSS for general-purpose XML documents, where there is no predefined way to display the elements. The next page demonstrates this: XML data

Document Tags and Contributors

 Last updated by: rtsinani,