The edits to make path data a presentation attribute currently use the same d property name for both the shape of a <path> element and the baseline shape of a <textPath>. It is not currently used for other elements (such as <hatchpath> and <stop> elements in a <mesh>) that use path data with the path attribute.

This creates some concerns:

• d is not a particularly expressive property name outside the context of a particular element.
• the same d property is being used to apply two very different features, with only the element tag name determining how (or if) the property has an effect.
• the points attribute of <polygon>/<polyline> elements, which is a natural equivalent to d on a <path>, is not currently reflected in CSS geometric properties.

Main discussion on the www-svg mailing list starts here:

• https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-svg/2016Feb/0013.html

Also relevant is this discussion on the FX mailing list, regarding the path() function syntax, which unfortunately got broken into two threads, only the shorter of which was copied to www-svg:

• https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-fx/2016JanMar/0027.html
• https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-fx/2016JanMar/0023.html