Re: Comments on CSS, Level 1, 23-Nov-95

lilley ([email protected])
Tue, 5 Dec 1995 14:52:48 +0000 (GMT)


> Taking out radial blends seems reasonable. 'canvas' is a better word
> than 'window', otherwise I have no objections. Thanks.

Right. I was struggling for a term; canvas is correct.

> > Does this apply to background color as well? If not, what is the
> > behaviour if the UA cannot display all the document at once? Does it
> >
> > a) blend the colors over the whole document and then display a part of
> > that blend, or
> >
> > b) blend the colors over the current window and then scroll the content
> > over that fixed background?
>
> A good point. While the latest draft introduced the pseudo-element
> '$CANVAS' to address the canvas, we're about to drop it (it
> complicates the syntax, and specifying background in the BODY element
> is a de facto by now). Instead, the 'flow' property will see a new
> value:
>
> flow
> Value: block | inline | canvas
> Example: BODY { flow: canvas }
>
> Thereafter, properties assigned to the BODY element will apply to the
> canvas, not to the full length of the document.

OK. Could you explain what would happen with the other two values in
this situation?

> If a gradient over the
> full length is what is wanted, one can either change the flow property
> of the BODY element or address the HTML element. In that case, it's
> undefined how the UA should display partial documents
> (w.r.t. properties that depend on knowing the document height).

Rather than have the standard say it is undefined, I would rather have
it say that satisfying the request may not be possible until the
document is fully loaded, or with partial documents.

I just have an allergy to ISO-style "this interesting bit is defined
to be undefined" nonsense.

-- 
Chris Lilley, Technical Author and JISC representative to W3C 
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