[IPython-dev] SVG figures status report

Michael Droettboom mdroe at stsci.edu
Wed Jun 27 11:09:53 EDT 2012


All,

I just read through this thread, and there's some really good findings 
and ideas here.  I agree it may make sense to move this over to the mpl 
list.

It's interesting to read about the slowdown when large amounts of SVG 
are on the page.  One of the advantages of SVG over Canvas is that it 
has persistent objects, so updates to the tree use less javascript 
computation or network bandwidth (depending on how things are done).  Of 
course, the downside is that there's lots of persistent DOM objects ;)  
I like the suggestion of "freezing/unfreezing" SVG on the fly -- that's 
definitely worth further investigation.

As stated elsewhere in this thread, one of the sticking points of 
getting interactive plotting features in IPython has been just around 
defining exactly we want out of interactivity.  In my experiments using 
SVG, I focused around panning and zooming and how all of the sometimes 
significant things that happen when you do that can both a) remain on 
the Python side for maximum flexibility and b) require minimal bandwidth 
between the kernel and the browser.  That proves to be rather tricky.  
Instead, as has been suggested in this thread, perhaps what we should do 
is focus on the easier aspects of interactivity, such as coordinate 
display and basic element picking first.  Or at least get some sort of 
prioritized list of what needs to happen.  With these easier things, 
it's also less relevant whether we're using PNG or SVG (or remains a 
user option).

Mike

On 06/26/2012 11:05 PM, Brian Granger wrote:
> I don't regularly subscribe to mpl-devel, but if there is a discussion
> there I could join for a while.
>
> Brian
>
> On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 1:47 PM, Jason Grout
> <jason-sage at creativetrax.com> wrote:
>> On 6/26/12 12:44 PM, Zoltán Vörös wrote:
>>> In that case, should we try to move this whole discussion to the
>>> mpl-devel list? Or do you think that the ideas here and at sage still
>>> need some ironing-out?
>> I think ironing the ideas out certainly needs to be done.  I don't have
>> an extremely clear idea of exactly what I want, for example, and others
>> have noted that we need to take a step back and see exactly what we
>> want.  For example, I agree that some sort of tracing/coordinate display
>> (no communication back to the server) would already be a huge help for Sage.
>>
>> I think it should move to mpl-developers anyway, as Brian alluded when
>> he said someone in mpl would have to spearhead it.  Brian, Fernando, or
>> Min, do you by chance happen to subscribe to mpl-dev?
>>
>> Jason
>> _______________________________________________
>> IPython-dev mailing list
>> IPython-dev at scipy.org
>> http://mail.scipy.org/mailman/listinfo/ipython-dev
>
>





More information about the IPython-dev mailing list