Always when I needed an SVG file for something I fired up Inkscape, even if I only needed a relatively simple image. While Inkscape is quite powerful when it comes to editing importing and exporting vector graphics, it is a memory and CPU hog too, so I was looking for a lightweight variant for simpler tasks.

Check this out:

http://svg-edit.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/editor/svg-editor.html

Fully written in HTML, CSS and Javascript and includes all the necessary tools I need for “normal” SVGs. It even works local.

 

You can download the latest version it in various forms, as zip file for local use, as Chromium extension and even as Opera 11 Widget:

https://code.google.com/p/svg-edit/