Comment 2 for bug 720809

> Inkscape preserves <style> tags in the file and preserves
> class attributes on elements

Note that Bug #419266 “class attribute not saved in plain svg” <https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/419266> is not yet fixed - the class attributes are only preserved as along as you save as Inkscape SVG.

Possibly also of interest:
Bug #167937 “CSS definitions being persisted in style attributes” has a small extension attached to "to clean style attributes from nodes that have a class attribute" (untested).

> be able to set the "class" attribute on an object (maybe in the
> object properties dialog)

A similar feature request has been filed earlier - linking this report as duplicate to
Bug #171079 “Settable class= in Object Properties”
<https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/171079>

Please add a comment here and revert the duplicate status if you don't agree and think these are different issues.