Re: border size and combining units

Once again the default "reply to" has caught me out. The reply copied below was
intended for the public list. I'll get the hang of it yet ;o) -R.

Rod Dav4is wrote:

> see below...
>
> Mjumbe Ukweli wrote:
>
> > is there a reason that borders-widths cannot be percentage values?  it would
> > make it that much easier to create fluid GUIs if they could.
> >
> > also (and i believe that this was suggested a while ago, though i can't
> > remember when or by whom) there should be some way to add two different
> > units together to size an element:
> >
> > elm1 {
> >     position: absolute;
> >     left: 0%;
> >     width: 50%;
> >
> >     margin: 10px;
> > }
> > elm2 {
> >     position: absolute;
> >     left: 50% + 20px;   /* to accomodate elm1 */
> >     width: 50% - 20px;
> > }
> >
>
> Would this proposal do it?
>
>     A new optional modifier to Width (and Height) properties, "Outside". When
> used, it causes the UA to make the specified length or percentage apply to the
> *outside* of the box rather than to the content. It would do this by adjusting
> the content width to make the outside box dimension be as specified, taking into
> account whatever margins, borders and paddings are in effect.
>     In your example, I would make a container DIV that could be positioned
> however you want, and place two "elm's" inside it. Assuming that you just want
> the two them to just fit snugly inside the container, the same properties for
> both would do it:
>
>      elm {float:left;margin:10px;width:50% outside}
>
>     Note that you could fiddle with the margin, border, and padding and the
> conforming UAs would adjust the content width to accommodate them -- as long as
> the content object actually fits in the space left over. If not, this would be
> treated as any other problem of fit.
>     Also, consider the legacy UA that doesn't implement (yet) the new "outside"
> modifier. The presence of the modifier would "poison" the width property,
> causing it to be ignored, reverting to "auto". Depending on the type of object
> and its size, the rendering may still approximate what is intended.
>
> -R.

Received on Saturday, 30 June 2001 09:09:10 UTC