Re: External references: how to handle 404?

Hi, Boris-

Boris Zbarsky wrote (on 9/22/08 3:29 PM):
> If I have an external SVG reference and the referenced document is 404 
> (or some other HTTP error code) but some sort of valid document, what 
> should happen?  Do we want to just use the 404 document?  Or bail out 
> and claim that the external reference doesn't exist?

SVG 1.1 says:

"A highly perceivable indication of error shall occur. For visual
rendering situations, an example of an indication of error would be to
render a translucent colored pattern such as a checkerboard on top of
the area where the SVG content is rendered."

So, I would recommend putting up a rectangle with the dimensions of the
referencing element (if any) with a faint checkerboard pattern.  If
there are no known dimensions, maybe some sort of "broken image" icon?
If there is fallback text (<title> or <desc>), maybe you could render that.

I would like to clean up the spec to clarify this, so we have interop.
Any suggestions?  Should we make an errata?

 http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG/implnote.html#ErrorProcessing

Regards-
-Doug