pagination features in web apps vs. browsers. (was: Re: [Meeting Summary] Meeting summary for 2015-08-31)

Hey,
I read the minutes of the meeting meeting.


I don't think it's quite as negative as some seem to take it. It is true
that browser vendors simply are not interested in most of these features,
and that will not change no matter with hos much emphasis one makes clear
that the publishers really would want this.

But we are not very far away from getting the features we need to do good
 pagination-related features entirely in JavaScript through the CSS Houdini
group. Some seem to think that that is the end of talking about
page-related features in the CSSWG. I think it's rather the other way
round: Browser vendors may not want to discuss those features anymore, and
they can go drink coffee meanwhile, but once JavaScript starts consuming
CSS, the authors of JavaScript apps will want to discuss about
standardization of the CSS features they implement. And the CSSWG may end
up being the right place for that.

However, it is true that even with Houdini, most of the features that are
coming are thought up by browser developers, at times with just a
rudimentary understanding of all the complexities of web apps. And most of
those talking about web apps are thinking of things like speeding up
jQuery, not things that are important for us.

It would really help if some other groups besides us who do page-alike
layout using CSS could show up at the CSSWG meetings and give their input
on what technical features are needed. Else it can easily sound as if this
is just something a few hackers at Vivliostyle came up with and noone else
is interested in.

I think Nick is right, that in the publishing industry very few want to do
something others then can use for free. The browser world is different in
that sense.

But we cannot really ask browsers to please take over the task of creating
a book display system if they aren't really interested in books at all. The
publishing world just has to change to survive, and find a way to do it
without having the browser vendors remove the their features the publishers
need due to shifting priorities (as we saw with CSS Regions).




On Tue, Sep 1, 2015 at 9:28 AM, Ivan Herman <ivan@w3.org> wrote:

> Meeting summary is here:
>
>
> http://www.w3.org/blog/dpub/2015/09/01/dpub-ig-telco-2015-08-31-css-wg-meeting-charter/
>
> Ivan
>
> ----
> Ivan Herman, W3C
> Digital Publishing Lead
> Home: http://www.w3.org/People/Ivan/
> mobile: +31-641044153
> ORCID ID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0782-2704
>
>
>
>
>