Adaptive Graphics

The separation of content and presentation information is one of the principal benefits of applying XML technologies to the electronic publishing domain. This concept has been successfully demonstrated with textual publications using a combination of XML and XSL. However, the same model has rarely been applied to the production of graphics and images. Adaptive graphics (a.k.a. data-driven graphics or customised/personalised graphics) is the term used to describe graphics that are produced through a combination of content and presentation information, usually stored in separate data files. This paper examines the concepts of adaptive graphics and their relationship to well established document publication methodologies. It also outlines possible applications and hypothetical solutions with the help of examples from different application domains. Some of the most obvious scenarios include statistics graphs and diagrams such as event maps or venue planners that need to be updated on a regular basis. A more advanced scenario is the creation of graphics that are localised and/or customised according to user preferences and requirements.