title: Performance impact of SVG/SMIL reflow/repaint?
body: <p>In the past I've done quite a bit in javascript, including some DOM manipulation.
  From there I've learned that reflows/repaints can be a big performance issue in some cases, and should generally be limited to a minimum. Like for example when adding a group of divs you should add all at once (attach them to a div outside of the DOM, then attach that) rather than attaching them one-by-one. The same goes for repaints, which can be triggered by changing CSS properties of an element. Though I must admit I have never looked into repaints that much, so I might be wrong about that last part.</p>
  
  <p>Does this also apply to SVG (seeing it uses a kind of DOM it seems plausible)? And is there a difference for different SVG elements? For example it would make sense that an animation element doesn't create a reflow since it isn't a new SVG element, but more like a property.</p>
  
  <p>Something I'm not sure about are repaints for SVG, do they even exist the same way they do for CSS/HTML? After all SMIL animations already create frames, so a thing like a "repaint" might not make any difference, since the new frame was going to be rendered anyways.</p>
  
  <p>Anyone with a deeper understanding of the inner workings of SMIL who could clarify these things for me?</p>