RE: Positioning HTML Elements with Cascading Style Sheets

Christopher,
	The goals you stated below are exactly what we had in mind when we
authored the CSS Object Model (CSSOM) draft.  Examples are given in both
Javascript and VBScript.

	-Chris
Chris Wilson
cwilso@microsoft.com
-[-

>-----Original Message-----
>From:	www-style@www10.w3.org [SMTP:www-style@www10.w3.org]
>Sent:	Sunday, February 02, 1997 7:08 AM
>To:	Joel N. Weber II
>Cc:	Todd Fahrner; Taylor; www-style@www10.w3.org
>Subject:	Re: Positioning HTML Elements with Cascading Style Sheets
>
>Well, those are some good responses, but I don't think my question was
>effectively answered.  What exactly does the "positioning" draft have over
>the "layout" draft?
>
>Not to gripe, but I preferred the layout draft because it was better at
>addressing the issue of managing the assignment/layout of tags to specific
>frames, plus the specified target of hypertext links from one frame to
>another.  Also, I liked the fact that it did address printing concerns.
>
>Also, there is another concern I have with the positioning draft....
>
>On Sat, 1 Feb 1997, Joel N. Weber II wrote:
>> I like programming languages.  They're powerful.   If they're well
>>designed,
>> you can do anything with them.
>
>It mentions in the CSS1 spec that CSS is not expected to evolve into a
>programming language.
>
>In the positioning draft we see the first example of mixing a scripting
>language (JS) and a stylesheet (CSS).  While I am not against the idea of
>the interaction, I do think a little more thought should be given to it.
>
>If such interaction is desired, perhaps a true method for CSS manipulation
>should be declared.  What about the idea of a specific proposal declaring
>a scripting interface to CSS?
>
>If this were to happen, this interface should do two things:
>
>1.  Provide an independent interface, not necessarily tied to one
>scripting language.  Manipulation should be equally possible with
>JavaScript and Visual Basic, and possible future scripting languages.
>
>2.  Provide the ability to retrieve values and set values to various
>properties.
>
>If something like this isn't implemented, Several existing scripting
>languages out there already may devise cheap "hacks" that may not take
>full advantage of using CSS.  It's going to be a whole lot better in the
>long run if we were to get this specified now than to regret it later.
>
>--- Christopher Josephes -------------------------
>mailto:cpj1@visi.com               Vector Internet
>http://www.visi.com/~cpj1