Jon, to restate the issue more concisely:

The OpenDocument specification, which is under consideration as an EU standard[1], introduces a number of XML attributes into the SVG namespace that are not part of the SVG standard.

For example, there is a non-standard svg:width attribute that is applied to non-SVG elements to specify width[2].

My concern is that if OpenDocument gets standardized by the EU in its current state, that would set a really ugly precedent for putting non-standard extensions in W3C-specified namespaces.

I have gone ahead and CCed the SVG WG staff contact and the OpenDocument Committee secretary. Hopefully I've not wasted anyone's time, and they can talk to the appropriate people in each group and put the issue to rest quickly.

-mental

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[1] http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20050130002908154

[2] The most recent draft of the OpenDocument specification (Dec 2004) I could find is available here:

http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/10765/office-spec-1.0-cd-2

Section 9.2 of the specification, which starts on page 275, is most relevent.

Here is an example from section 9.2.1:

<draw:rect svg:x="2cm" svg:y="3cm" svg:width="10cm" svg:height="20cm" svg:transform="rotate(45)" draw:style-name="object-with-shadow">

(in this example the 'draw' prefix is bound to the urn:oasis:names:tc:opendocument:xmlns:drawing:1.0 namespace, and 'svg' to the http://www.w3.org/2000/svg namespace)