Re: CSS aims

( Long time observer first time responder :-) )

A hypothetical answer would be to enforce a rule that 1.) requires you to
have some area where the presentation is defined and 2.) "requiring" that
the presentation scheme be included in the document it is being applied to.
Much like include/imports in languages like C and Java. The browser could
have a default empty presentation layer that could be overwritten by the
"user".

Does this make things complex on the user end? I don't think so, it steers
them in the direction of separating concerns.

---------------------------------
Jonathan K. Kelly
Web Designer/Developer / 3D Artist / Programmer
<http://www.thatguy.tv>www.thatguy.tv


On Tue, Jan 14, 2014 at 2:45 PM, Alan Stearns <stearns@adobe.com> wrote:

> On 1/14/14, 11:29 AM, "Brian Kardell" <bkardell@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >I've been thinking a lot lately because of some related threads on other
> >lists:  Is it plausible to imagine a clean/reasonably complete decoupling
> >of presentation from structure without adding dubious amounts of
> >complexity?  I'm asking it here because i
> > think it plays in some ways to think about the direction of the platform
> >present and future to look at where to aim efforts at explanation and
> >extensibility.
> >I guess my question is:  intentionally pretty vague because I'm
> >interested in hearing where you all think various answers and pieces
> >being pondered fit together in this general aim.
>
> I have been thinking quite a lot on this topic. The way you’re posing the
> question, I think the answer is no. There is no reasonably complete way to
> decouple presentation from structure, because presentation often requires
> structure. Items are grouped or wrapped for purely presentational
> purposes. A layout has a structure that is separate from its content.
>
> I think your question is different than, “Is there a way to encode all
> presentation in CSS?” I think that *might* be possible, but it would
> require adding structure to CSS. I’ve looked in to doing just that, and my
> opinion at the moment is that adding structure to CSS is (a) really
> difficult and (b) hard to justify when HTML is really good at structure.
>
> So I’m inclined towards approaches that find ways of decoupling the
> content structure from the presentational structure in HTML.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Alan
>
>