The announcement notes that despite being a minor version release, Batik 1.1 contains several large improvements. These include:

• Faster display, and smaller memory footprint when viewing SVG documents
• Faster performance when converting to other formats, particularly PNG
• Improved test harnesses

The new release means that Batik now handles all static features of SVG. The team are now looking to add the remaining dynamic features. These include scripting and support for SMIL animation.