Re: [css3-images] Making gradients readable

On Sunday 2011-10-30 22:25 -0700, fantasai wrote:
> So I propose for radial-gradient() is to use keywords to denote the various types of
> arguments, thus:
> 
>   radial-gradient(from center as red, orange, yellow)
> 
>   radial-gradient(from top left as red, orange, yellow)
> 
>   radial-gradient(circle from 25% 17% as red, orange, yellow)
> 
>   radial-gradient(3em 5em from 1em 2em as red, orange, yellow)
> 
> Generically, the proposed syntax is:
> 
>   radial-gradient( <shape-info>
>                    from <position>
>                    as <color-stop> [, <color-stop>]+ )

So there's one thing I don't like about this and another that I
think could be improved.

The thing I don't like is that, in general, I don't like something
that looks like this:

  function(foo bar as a, b, c)

because I think when you have commas inside of functions, it's
natural to split it like this (because many languages separate
things inside functional syntax with commas):

   foo bar as a
   b
   c

rather than splitting it as:
   foo bar
   a, b, c

I thus prefer replacing the "as" with a ",".


Second, I think the <shape-info> really has two parts -- there's a
shape and a size (or extents).  I wonder if this could be recast as:

  radial-gradient( <shape>?
                   from <position>
                   to <extents>
                   [, <color-stop>] + )

Where:

 <shape> is ellipse or circle, and defaults to ellipse

 <position> is as you describe it

 <extents> is:
   closest-corner
   closest-side
   farthest-corner
   farthest-side
   or an explicit size (one number for a circle, two for an ellipse)

I could see the 'from' keyword also being 'at'.

(The 'from'-part and the 'to'-part seem like they could be reversed
if desired.)

I'd like to find an alternative word for 'to' that works well both
for the keywords and for <length> sizes; 'to' is a bit better for
the keywords that the <length> sizes; I think 'size' is the other
way around; I prefer 'to' over 'size' but would prefer a better
option if someone can think of it.

-David

-- 
𝄞   L. David Baron                         http://dbaron.org/   𝄂
𝄢   Mozilla                           http://www.mozilla.org/   𝄂

Received on Tuesday, 1 November 2011 22:35:17 UTC