Re: [csswg-drafts] [css-anchor-position-1] Which writing-mode does position-try-tactics operate on? (#12869)

The CSS Working Group just discussed `[css-anchor-position-1] Which writing-mode does position-try-tactics operate on?`, and agreed to the following:

* `RESOLVED: use the containing block's writing mode, pending implementors finding it is too difficult to implement`

<details><summary>The full IRC log of that discussion</summary>
&lt;JoshT> emilio: not specced which element writing-mode property operates on<br>
&lt;JoshT> ... for things like this, makes sense to use containing block<br>
&lt;JoshT> ... but for swapping of logical and physical properties, width, height, top for bottom, seems to be more useful if they operated on the element's writing mode<br>
&lt;JoshT> ... both are implementable<br>
&lt;JoshT> ... for containing blocks, may be more tricky because may be further apart in the DOM<br>
&lt;TabAtkins> q+<br>
&lt;JoshT> ... so that might be an argument for doing the element's writing mode<br>
&lt;astearns> ack TabAtkins<br>
&lt;JoshT> TabAtkins: fantasai said in the issue our usual rule is: logical directions tend to default to the container<br>
&lt;JoshT> ... if we refer to the element, we use a self- prefix<br>
&lt;JoshT> ... for that reason, I'd prefer the container element<br>
&lt;emilio> q+<br>
&lt;JoshT> ... but like emilio said, some refer to the container and we should match that<br>
&lt;JoshT> ... if you put flip-block in the position area and then give it flip-block and it didn't end up in the block area because the element had an orthogonal writing mode<br>
&lt;astearns> ack emilio<br>
&lt;futhark> q+<br>
&lt;JoshT> emilio: curious to hear from other implementers as well. nothing is impossible, but if you're computing style of abspos, you might not know it until until the ??? pass.<br>
&lt;JoshT> ... it is a bit odd. I don't think style computed values have dependencies on the containing block's writing mode<br>
&lt;JoshT> ... maybe from the inherited writing mode. but seems to be introiducing a weird dependency<br>
&lt;astearns> ack futhark<br>
&lt;JoshT> futhark: we know what the ??? is when we compute the style. but I wouldn't be surprised if we had invalidation bugs when ????<br>
&lt;TabAtkins> s/???/writing-mode/<br>
&lt;TabAtkins> s/????/it changes/<br>
&lt;JoshT> ... for the anchored element if the writing mode of the containing block changes<br>
&lt;JoshT> emilio: some might work because the containing block writing mode triggers layout<br>
&lt;JoshT> ... you compute the style of the anchored things<br>
&lt;JoshT> futhark: i don't think we've done anything actively to make that work<br>
&lt;JoshT> ... for position area, it does work because they have different keywords<br>
&lt;JoshT> ... I don't remember what we do for when an element is in a containing block<br>
&lt;JoshT> emilio: agree with TabAtkins that containing block is the most sensible<br>
&lt;JoshT> ... I wouldn't be too sad if we kept using the abspos writing mode<br>
&lt;JoshT> astearns: should we add something to the spec and then check implementability<br>
&lt;TabAtkins> I do think matching position-area makes *enough sense* that if it ended up being too problematic to do, we shoudl just drop the logicals and rely solely on flip-x/y<br>
&lt;JoshT> emilio: everything is implementable with enough effort<br>
&lt;JoshT> astearns: we can see if the effort is justified<br>
&lt;JoshT> PROPOSED: use the containing block's writing mode pending implementors finding it is too difficult to implement<br>
&lt;fantasai> +1<br>
&lt;JoshT> RESOLVED: use the containing block's writing mode, pending implementors finding it is too difficult to implement<br>
</details>


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Received on Wednesday, 15 October 2025 15:13:54 UTC