Re: DOM2 HTML / HTMLTableRowElement / rowIndex

>We would like to propose an erratum to DOM2 HTML regarding the rowIndex
>property of HTMLTableRowElement. This is so the DOM2 HTML specification
>will reflect the behavior of 2 currently interoperable implementations:
>IE 6 for Windows and Netscape 6.

>Where the specification reads: "This is in document tree order and not
>display order. The rowIndex does not take into account sections (THEAD,
>TFOOT, or TBODY) within the table." 

>The proposed erratum is: "This is in logical order and not in document
>order. The rowIndex does take into account sections (THEAD, TFOOT, or
>TBODY) within the table, placing THEAD rows first in the index, followed
>by TBODY rows, followed by TFOOT rows."

I don’t think you mean "logical" order, but, rather, "presentation or
display" order. Most readers interpret document order as "logical" order.
Also, if you do base the definition of rowIndex on presentation order,
then you need to posit an indefinite height presentation container (in
a top-to-bottom block progression direction writing mode); otherwise,
page breaks that would cause repeats of header and footer sections must
be accounted for in determining the row corresponding to a rowIndex;
i.e., the same row may be assigned multiple rowIndices on different pages.
To pose it another way, in terms of your "logical" model, do the footer
rows at the end of the first page come after or before the header rows
repeated on the second page?

Overall, I think that the current language is probably the correct language,
and that the interpretation of rowIndex should *not* be based on presentation
order as this is dependent upon the formatting and layout model being used,
which is independent of DOM semantics, at least at level 2.

>The documentation of the rowIndex parameter for HTMLTableElement::deleteRow
>and HTMLTableElement::insertRow could be clarified by language similar to
>the proposed erratum. For example, the HTMLTableElement::deleteRow specification
>currently states "This index starts from 0 and is relative to all the rows
>contained inside the table, regardless of section parentage." "Regardless
>of section parentage" could mean order within the table element of the
>document, or display order.

>Brad Pettit
>Microsoft Corp.

Regards,
Glenn Adams

Received on Friday, 20 September 2002 23:36:12 UTC