Re: Gradient syntax proposal

On Aug 15, 2009, at 9:38 AM, Tab Atkins Jr. wrote:

>> Speaking of applying previous knowledge, how about my PhotoShop  
>> experience?
>> When I use the gradient tool in PhotoShop, I consider where how far  
>> in (or
>> out) I want the starting color to start, what the angle it should  
>> be as I
>> drag the mouse, and how far I should go along that angle before I  
>> let the
>> mouse button up. I don't think, "hmm, this should start 10% of the  
>> way from
>> a point that is 40 pixels from the top and 5% from the left, and  
>> end 900
>> pixels from the left and 90% from the top." It's just absurd extra
>> complexity to try to shoehorn in that kind of measurement, and for
>> infinitesimal gain.
>
> Um, no, you *are* doing that.  You're doing it with your eyeballs and
> mouse rather than with text and numbers, but you really are doing the
> exact same thing.

No, I am picking an angle, picking how far in the first color of the  
gradation should go (a single distance from whatever reference point I  
am using), and how far away from that I should end it.

> I'm sorry that it's impossible to translate tactile
> Photoshop experience directly into CSS, but that's just one of the
> limitations of the medium.

I think you either completely missed the point, or are being sarcastic.

> Anyway, you're purposely exaggerating the complexity of the syntax.
> It would be more like "I want my gradient to start 40px from the top
> and 5% from the left, and end 900px from the left and 90% from the
> top.  My first color will start 10% in, and it'll go to the end."

I would never, EVER think of a gradient I was creating in those terms,  
and don't imagine many others would either. On a rectangle, I would  
think of it in terms of either angle (like 45°) or of angling between  
two sides or corners. And I would think of where the colors would  
start and stop along that angle line. Period. I might be considering  
pixels or percentages, but it is still with regard to where the colors  
would start and stop along that angle line, and not where the start  
and stop within another imaginary box within the original one, that  
has its own starting and stopping points.

Received on Saturday, 15 August 2009 18:46:26 UTC