Definition of "rule"?

E. Stephen Mack writes:

 > The CSS1 spec defines a "rule" as "a declaration and its
 > selector."
 > 
 > So, given this style sheet:
 > 
 > H1, H2, H3: { color: white; background: blue; }
 > 
 > is that one rule, two rules, three rules, or six rules?

(minor point, the first colon should be omitted in the above example:

   H1, H1, H3  { color: white; background: blue; }

We're here looking at six rules that have been grouped with the
selector grouping mechanism (commas) and the declaration grouping
mechanism (semi-colons). 

 > I'm fairly new to style sheets and in reading through the spec,
 > I couldn't determine from the section on grouping or from
 > context what the correct answer is.

Noted, thanks.

 > I'm also stunned by how wildly different a style sheet
 > can be interpreted by Navigator 4.01, IE 3.02, and IE 4.0 platform
 > preview 2 on my Windows 95 system.

This is indeed a concern and some people have proposed temporary
reliefs [1] until implementations are aligned.

[1] http://www.verso.com/agitprop/css/

Regards,

-h&kon

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