- From: David Perrell <davidp@earthlink.net>
- Date: Sun, 27 Jul 1997 02:10:18 -0700
- To: <www-style@w3.org>, "E. Stephen Mack" <estephen@emf.net>
E. Stephen Mack wrote:
> Using CSS1, we can declare that level-one heading elements
> should not be given a bold weight:
>
> H1 { font-weight: normal; }
>
> Since font weight is an inherited property [2], the STRONG element
> in the example heading above sbould inherit its parent's
> lack of bolding.
>
> Thus, the example HTML should be displayed with no bolding
> throughout the entire heading, including the word "is".
By that logic, this one declaration:
BODY { 12pt/13pt normal sans-serif }
should have the effect of rendering the entire document in 12pt/13pt
normal sans-serif, including all the headings. Fortunately, that's not
the case.
Consider this:
P { font-style: normal }
<P>Font-style is inherited. But without some contrary declaration,
<I>this</I> should still be italicized because 'I' has an italic
font-style in the default stylesheet.</P>
> While Navigator 4.01 renders the heading without any bolding
> for the word "is", IE 4.0 platform preview 2 does render the
> word "is" in bold. [3]
STRONG must have a font-weight declaration in the default stylesheet,
or it could not have the effect of rendering text bolder than its
parent. Therefore, Navigator is wrong to override STRONG's default
weight declaration.
Reader/default style declarations are not overcome by inheritance, only
by contrary declarations.
Note that in the example default stylesheet at
<http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/TR/REC-CSS1#appendix-a>, STRONG is declared
with a font-weight of 'bolder'. STRONG should have the effect of
increasing the boldness of any element, provided a bolder weight is
available in the same font-family.
David Perrell
Received on Sunday, 27 July 1997 05:16:57 UTC