Re: [CSS21] WD 5.12.1, 5.12.2: first-line and first-letter generally

On Mon, Mar 14, 2011 at 07:23:22AM +1100, Peter Moulder wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 11, 2011 at 06:32:13PM +0000, Sylvain Galineau wrote:
> 
> > Thank you for your feedback. Your proposal is accepted. The CSS2.1 specification
> > will be updated to note the exact behavior :first-letter and :first-line is not 
> > defined, and may be defined in a future version.
> 
> The proposal was not to add a note while leaving the existing text (that some
> implementors have considered to be unambiguously demanding one behaviour while
> other implementors have considered to be unambiguously demanding another
> behaviour), but to remove :first-letter and :first-line from CSS2.1,
> in the same way as with run-in (if I correctly understand the fate of run-in).

I believe that :first-line and :first-letter would pose a significant
hindrance to finishing CSS 2.1:

  - Deciding on one behaviour or another seems politically difficult,
    because there is significant implementation cost in switching from
    one to another behaviour.  The implementation cost alone suggests
    that resolving the matter would take time.  Some of the outstanding
    issues with them have a significant effect on how box generation
    and property inheritance occurs.

  - Requiring :first-* but allowing either set of behaviours only makes
    it harder to rule one way or another later.

  - They pose significant issues to resolving box generation issues,
    especially when either of them partially overlaps some other
    element or pseudo-element, especially when partially overlapping a
    relpos inline element.

Are there any other specs that require CSS21 to include :first-line and
:first-letter ?

What are the other arguments for retaining these in the CSS21 spec ?

Have I correctly understood that run-in is being simply removed from
CSS21 ?

pjrm.

Received on Monday, 14 March 2011 01:34:23 UTC