Re: [css3-images] Remove all references to out-of-document elements and CSSElementMap?

On Mon, Mar 19, 2012 at 6:18 PM, Tab Atkins Jr. <jackalmage@gmail.com> wrote:
> The element() function currently allows an out-of-document element to
> be selected and (in some cases) rendered, through a mechanism that is
> host-language dependent.  There is an informative example of this
> using the CSSElementMap API I proposed to be added to HTML for this
> purpose.
>
> There's been a relatively large amount of discussion and disagreement
> over multiple aspects of this:
>
> 1. Some people don't like having id selectors refer to out-of-document
> elements, as it's inconsistent with how the same selector would work
> in other contexts.
>
> 2. The behavior of this for SVG fragments is underdefined currently,
> because CSS in out-of-document trees is underdefined.
>
> 3. The existence of the CSSElementMap in HTML is contested.  Some
> suggest that it should be part of CSSOM instead, or have a different
> name, or have slightly different behavior (such as relying on the
> element's own @id attribute, rather than using the key in the map as
> an alternative id.
>
> 4. Some people think the current ability is too limited to really be
> useful, and we should wait and combine it with the ability to
> reference elements from external documents as well.  This would allow
> things like making a paint-server gallery in an SVG file and then
> referencing it in your CSS; right now you'd have to insert the SVG
> into every page, either as direct markup or with script.
>
> My proposal is to drop all references to this ability for now, and
> resolve these issues either in Images 4 or another spec like CSSOM.
> I'd remove all references to out-of-document elements from the spec.
> This still leaves in useful abilities, like the ability to use a
> non-rendered element; it would just require putting the element into
> the document and giving it display:none.
>
> This also lets us avoid the handful of issues around this subject
> recorded in <http://wiki.csswg.org/spec/css3-images>.
>
> Thoughts?

I've made this change.  Now time to go edit the wiki and remove a few
of the issues!

~TJ

Received on Tuesday, 20 March 2012 23:42:22 UTC