Re: [CSS3] Flexible Flow Module, proposal.

Philip TAYLOR (Ret'd) wrote:
>
>
> Andrew Fedoniouk wrote:
>
>> '*' as a unit is used already in these places:
>>
>> 1) In html, so called multi-length or relative units:
>> http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/types.html#type-length
>> Used in tables[in supporting UAs] and framesets (@cols and @rows).
>
> Thank you, I confess I had overlooked that (in that
> I was unaware of multilengths per se, although I had
> seen the asterisk used in frameset specifications
> -- and completely failed to understand it).
>
>> 2) In following CSS3 proposals:
>> http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-grid/
>> http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-layout/
>
> OK, but they are still /proposals/ : there is
> still time to get "*" replaced by something
> more mnemonic :-)
>
'*' can be used alone as a short form of  '1*'. For example if you want 
to put element in the bottom right corner of
its container you can write:

#middle
{
    margin: * 0 0 *;
}

Such short form will not work with mnemonics - will clash with #name 
production in CSS grammar.

I mean that this:
#middle
{
    margin: 1flex 0 0 1flex;
}
cannot be reduced to this:
#middle
{
    margin: flex 0 0 flex;
}
without major changes in lex definitions.

And yes, these are proposals (above), but note - written by different 
authors. That means this idea/notation is somehow common.

> Philip TAYLOR
>