Re: [csswg-drafts] [css-grid-3] Designer/developer feedback on masonry layout (#10233)

I just want to point out: My initial comment left out JavaScript on purpose as a solution. It most certainly would be an obvious one, but the discussion shouldn't rely on it being solved with JavaScript.

@oscarotero I absolutely see your point and I agree that it is the best counter-argument to the point I made. But I think this is exactly the kind of discussion that needs to happen.

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The counter argument that could be brought up is: Why not complete it with JavaScript, if we already have it? I think the concept of a website, that runs without JavaScript is basically dead by now. This wouldn't be about removing all of CSS and replacing it with JavaScript. It would only means to add an option to add more custom algorithms via a new general purpose tooling that would solve dozends, hundreds or even thousands of layout problems at once, instead of adding one very specific trendy layout algorithm every 5 years or so.

Houdini (or something like it) wouldn't take away anything from CSS. But Masonry won't be the last layout algorithm people will want and would set the precedence of having these things added via hardcoded logic, with a convoluted API surface. Even experienced front-end developers already complain about the complexity and convolutedness of `flex` and `grid`. Masonry most certainly wouldn't end up being a simpler implementation. 

So for me it's about if we prefer to be able to run custom scripts (which could be _much_ more focused on the specific use case) or if we prefer making CSS harder and harder to learn with each year.

The good thing about a Turing-complete language is, that you only need a finite set of things to express anything. The nature of CSS is, that every time you want to do something new you need to increase its surface. I can't think of many systems that have improved by continuously adding more specialized features while neglecting versatile, general-purpose tools.

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Received on Tuesday, 8 October 2024 14:13:38 UTC