Re: R2866 : better talk about "CSS display" instead of "CSS tables"

On Sun, Apr 26, 2009 at 12:52 AM, Ian Hickson <ian@hixie.ch> wrote:
> On Tue, 24 Feb 2009, Olivier GENDRIN wrote:
>>
>> Looking at r2866 [1], I note the sentence "primarily using CSS
>> positioning and CSS tables." I think that it would be less confusing to
>> talk about CSS display instead of CSS tables (and more accurate from a
>> CSS spec point of view [2][3]).
>>
>> [1] http://html5.org/tools/web-apps-tracker?from=2865&to=2866
>> [2] http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/visuren.html#display-prop
>> [3] http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/visuren.html#positioning-scheme
>
> I don't understand why "CSS tables" is confusing, nor why it's inaccurate.
> Could you elaborate?

It's inaccurate because many noob web designers ignore the others ways
of display content, beyond tables. And because you are talking about
"a variety of alternatives to using HTML tables for layout" without
telling about floats (widely used, mostly because of the lack of
support of display: table-cell).

> "CSS display" doesn't convey that it is the table
> values that would be particularly relevant here, which is why I'm
> reluctant to just do that, but maybe there is something we can say that
> is less confusing while still being precise enough.

Ok, I understand your point.

I propose the sentence "<p class="note">There are a variety of
alternatives to using HTML tables for layout, through CSS: <a
href="">positioning</a>, <a href="">floating</a> or <a
href="">display</a> mode (like display: table, display: table-row,
display: table-cell, but also inline-block, or run-in, compact).</p>".

I hope I'm clear enough...

-- 
Olivier G.
http://twitter.com/lespacedunmatin
http://www.lespacedunmatin.info/blog/

Received on Monday, 27 April 2009 14:15:52 UTC