CSS1 comments

Hello,

Just a couple of points that seem unclear to me, and perhaps will seem
so to others:

1. In section 4.1.4 (Floating elements), the example HTML shows a
floating image defined *before* a paragraph:

   <BODY>
     <IMG SRC=img.gif>
     <P>Some sample text to has no other..
   </BODY>

However, the accompanying diagram shows the image bounded on the left
and top by the paragraph's left and top margins, even though the
paragraph is not an ancestor.  None of the eight rules given seems to
account for the image honoring the paragraph's margins.

2. In section 5.3.2 ('background', etc.), under the heading
'background-position', it is stated that:

   If the background image is fixed with regard to the canvas (see the
   'background-attachment' property above), the image is placed relative
   to the canvas instead of the element. E.g.: 

       BODY { 
         background-image: url(logo.png);
         background-attachment: fixed;
         background-position: 100% 100%;
       } 

   In the example above, the image is placed in the lower right corner
   of the canvas.

What is unclear to me is the appropriate course of action when a fixed
image is associated with an element other than BODY, for example:

       TABLE { 
         background-image: url(logo.png);
         background-attachment: fixed;
         background-position: 100% 100%;
       } 

From my reading of the document, the image would be placed in the lower
right corner of the *canvas*, not the table.  If that is the case, would
the image be displayed at all times, or only while some portion of the
table is visible?

There is a "CSS1 core" note in this section of the document that
suggests that "fixed" may be treated as "scroll" in some cases, but it
isn't clear to me if this is one of those cases.

3. A general comment:  I'd like to see the "float" syntax extended
beyond the current left/right, to allow arbitrary placement of floating
elements relative to their parents, with both absolute and percentage
specification of offsets.  I'm implementing this layout capability now,
but have no good mapping to HTML (and thus will be forced to create a
bad mapping :-( ).

Thanks for your time.

Bill Dortch
bdortch@hidaho.com
billd@datachannel.com

Received on Saturday, 7 December 1996 21:57:03 UTC