Re: [css21][css3][svg] SVG and unit-less length values

On Sun, Aug 15, 2010 at 4:56 AM, Doug Schepers <schepers@w3.org> wrote:

> I was under the impression that it was not possible to render real-world
> units to uncalibrated monitors, and that most monitors are uncalibrated; am
> I mistaken or confused (maybe thinking of color calibration), or has that
> changed?
>

This is not really the problem. If limitations in determining the physical
screen size were the only issue, I don't think we'd change behavior.

We've been over and over this on www-style. I think the strongest and
least-well-understood point is that always-physical units are *not very
useful*. Letting 1in mean "one inch on a normal printed page; on other
devices, a length that makes such documents most readable" is far more
useful than "one inch always".

As far as I know, the only use cases for always-physical units are "life
size" diagrams and touch interfaces, and those are a tiny fraction of Web
pages. To satisfy those use cases, we are going to introduce an experimental
"mozmm" unit that is physical millimeters whenever possible (for contact
lens displays, neural electrode interfaces, and lasers projecting into the
sky, it's just not possible...).

Rob
-- 
"Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for
they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures
every day to see if what Paul said was true." [Acts 17:11]

Received on Sunday, 15 August 2010 06:16:24 UTC