Re: XBL in CSS

On Thu, 17 Aug 2006, Bert Bos wrote:
> 
> I don't mind adding some more behavior to CSS. (E.g., I'd like to have 
> collapse/expand for the <nl> element of XHTML2; :hover is not enough 
> for that.) But I do worry that the behavior added via an XBL binding is 
> procedural (through JavaScript) instead of declarative and especially 
> that it makes XBL and JavaScript requirements for implementing CSS.

My proposal would be to put the 'binding' property in the XBL 
specification, rather than in the CSS specifications, thus making it only 
a requirement if you implement XBL.

Also, note that XBL doesn't require JavaScript; for example you could use 
Java with XBL.


> My preferred solution is to list the behaviors that are most needed 
> (collapsing elements, various hyperlink behaviors) and add just those. 
> Maybe something like 'p:activated {content: "Click to collapse me"}'.

There has been a proposal in XBL3 for a fixed set of bindings, the problem 
is that there is such a long tail that this wouldn't adequately solve the 
problem XBL set out to solve.


> If somebody wants other behaviors, he probably meant to write a program 
> rather than a document.

Certainly XBL1's main use case was for programs; indeed XBL1 was used 
almost exclusively in a programming environment, without any documents 
involved (it was used to implement the XUL programming language).


> So, rather than trying to "fix" HTML and CSS with XBL (and introducing 
> dependencies), I propose to skip XBL and instead work directly on this 
> new language for applications, which doesn't need HTML and CSS at all.

While I understand that you do not feel XBL is the right solution, the 
real question is that assuming that XBL does continue along the REC track, 
do you, and other members of the CSS community, agree with the XBL 
specification introducing a new property and related pseudo-class to the 
CSS namespace. Currently it appears the majority of the community is in 
favour or at least neutral on the matter.

Cheers,
-- 
Ian Hickson               U+1047E                )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
http://ln.hixie.ch/       U+263A                /,   _.. \   _\  ;`._ ,.
Things that are impossible just take longer.   `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'

Received on Thursday, 17 August 2006 20:06:25 UTC