Tables and CSS (was: With CSS how does one ALIGN block-level elements?)

---
%cellhalign
align => CSS:align
---

I believe 'text-align' works here.

---
%cellvalign
valign => CSS:valign
---

In CSS1 there is no 'valign' and UA support for height on non-replaced
elements is optional. 'Vertical-align' only applies within a line box and so
is no help. Perhaps what's needed is 'vertical-position' for situations
where content height is declared as different from the 'auto' value.
Vertical-position would apply to block elements and would accept values of
top, middle, and bottom, with middle as default. In cases where the original
content is taller than the height value the content would clip, either at
the edge opposite the positioning edge or equally top and bottom when
vertical-position is middle. The property would be inherited so it could be
applied to a TABLE or ROW.


---
<TABLE>
width => CSS:width
border => CSS:border
frame => CSS:border in <TR> and <TD> ?
rules => CSS:border in <THEAD> <TBODY> <TFOOT>?
cellspacing => CSS:margin in <TD>
cellpadding => CSS:padding in <TD>
---

Frame and border are interrelated. Rules are borders on TH and TD. Neither
IE nor N fully support these attributes. In IE, cellspacing is lost where
cells abut without rules.

(BTW, 'VOID' as a value?!! Why not 'none'? What perversity prompts such an
incomprehensible deviation from accepted terminology? Surely this crept into
the spec through simple oversight, not spine-void lackeyism.)

Anyway, the question of how the CSS model can accommodate a table remains
unanswered. Will there be a property for subdividing block elements? A new
display type with a slew of new type-specific properties?

David Perrell

Received on Tuesday, 21 October 1997 18:32:30 UTC