Re: a few CSS 2.1 tests

On Fri, 12 Mar 2004, L. David Baron wrote:
>
> I just wrote a few tests [1] for 2.1 [2], and I'm interested in knowing
> how I'm doing, especially with regard to the guidelines [3], and
> especially from the authors of said guidelines.

I think those are the best tests I've ever seen.

My only comments -- and don't get me wrong; these are nit-picking
comments, the equivalent of someone saying you should fix the spelling in
a comment during a code review -- would be:

 http://dbaron.org/css2.1/tests/t010403-shand-font-00-b.xht
 http://dbaron.org/css2.1/tests/t010403-shand-font-01-b.xht
   Instead of "NOT be in a bold font" I would just say "be in a thin
   font" or "be in a regular font weight", as negatives tend to make
   understanding the test harder.

 http://dbaron.org/css2.1/tests/t040102-keywords-01-b.xht
   Instead of "This should be 10em wide.", I would just say "Test". This
   is for two reasons: first, it is nigh on impossible to know how much
   10em is anyway, and second, you want to have as few pass conditions per
   test as possible, so that the reader can quickly establish the result.

 http://dbaron.org/css2.1/tests/t040102-keywords-00-b.xht
 http://dbaron.org/css2.1/tests/t040103-case-00-b.xht
 http://dbaron.org/css2.1/tests/t040103-case-01-c.xht
 http://dbaron.org/css2.1/tests/t040103-escapes-01-b.xht
 http://dbaron.org/css2.1/tests/t040103-escapes-02-d.xht
   I haven't yet put this in the public version of the guidelines, but
   there are some assumptions you can make about the test environment:
      http://cgi.w3.org/member-bin/process.cgi?method=url&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hixie.ch%2Ftests%2Fevil%2Fcss%2Fcss21%2Fguidelines%2Fguidelines.src&output=html#requirements
   In particular, you can assume the default text color is black, so there
   is no need to explicitly set it in the tests.

 http://dbaron.org/css2.1/tests/t040103-escapes-00-b.xht
   You should make a third test line which makes no use of generated
   content at all, and preferably change the sentence to a dummy one
   such as "This is a test paragraph".


> A few issues where I'm particularly unsure of myself are:
>  * are my title elements good?

They seem fine to me. To be honest the titles aren't that important.


>  * are my filenames good, especially regarding my choice along the
>    a-b-c-d-e-f spectrum (for which the tests I wrote are perhaps an
>    unusual case)?

   http://dbaron.org/css2.1/tests/t040103-escapes-05-c.xht

...should probably be a "b" not a "c", but they seem fine to me in
general. It's a judgement call, and the judgement is almost always going
to be based on how many browsers actually fail the test -- my "Evil" tests
from back in 99 when I was making the Evil Test Suite were simply the
tests that everyone failed, as opposed to the Wet Blanket Tests, which
were the tests that only a few people failed and thus "reduced the
enjoyment of others", as it were.


>  * is my lack of consistent wording a problem?  I've written multiple
>    variations of the sentences "This paragraph should have a green
>    background." and "The next two paragraphs should look identical."

That all looked fine to me.

-- 
Ian Hickson                                      )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
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Received on Saturday, 13 March 2004 06:21:28 UTC