Relative positioning

I don't think this is currently available, but perhaps I'm wrong:
Anyhow may be nice to discuss.

Is there any sense of 'relative' positioning (between elements in the same
viewport)?
I'd like to be able to specify x,y of elementB relative to bounding box of
elementA. Like +/- 10 units for top left | top right | bottom left | bottom
right. (Also the x and y referenced elements might not be one and the same.)

Incidentally this could in one way achieve table or grid layouts if the x of
cellB1 is positioned +n units from top-right of cellA1's bounding box and y
of cellB1 is +n from top-right of cellA1 bounds. Not a real replacement for
table or grid though.

My thought was not for the table usage but for drop down menus. I realize
this is possible by script already, but it would be nicer/easier if not done
through script. Basically if one changed the height of 'menu item X' - all
the items below would move up or down respectively. Might make 'fly out'
style menus easier as well. And how about relative positioning to relative
elements such as previous-sibling so that as a DOM element is inserted or
deleted the reference is replaced by another element. Actually, how would
you handle node deletion if they were not relative to a relative element. I
suppose you could leave the element in its current position (orphan.) Then
another issue is what if there exists no previous-sibling etc? What of
relative widths and heights?

Maybe this has been considered and dropped out? Exists already and I missed
it? Thoughts?

Thanks
-TR

Received on Thursday, 22 July 2004 00:20:22 UTC