Re: sample CSS property page: font-size

On Tue, Jan 22, 2013 at 2:22 PM, Mike Sierra
<letmespellitoutforyou@gmail.com> wrote:
> Great comments. Replies inline marked SIERRA below.  I think it's wise
> to keep a tally of the major template/skin enhancements necessary to
> produce this suggested design -- will do that.

As promised, a list of features needed to fine-tune the design:

* Page title & summary are on the same line in this example; formatted
  as left/right justification with negative margin for overlay;
  this is fragile for cases where text in either runs too long.

* Removed hard-coded "W3C Recommendation" text. If necessary, use a
  graphic to represent options or otherwise push it out of the main
  text flow.

* "Specifies the size of text" is currently called a "summary",
  hopefully a simple sentence reflected in CSS property listings.  The
  "This property sets the..." text offers more fleshed-out expository
  context not intended for listings. New field needed in template.
  What to call it?

* Removed the implicit "Summary" & "Overview table" headings.

* Under "Values", each <dt>/<dd> pair generate incorrectly in its own
  <dl>, which also produces unnesessary rules. Regardless, I'd remove
  the rule formatting altogether as too busy.

* Heavily reformatted property value overview table. I'd shade all
  rows white here.

* Each cell title ("Computed value"/"Initial value") should link to a
  concept page.

* Inherited/Animatable use check/X icons rather than Yes/No text.

* Current template only allows one media type, but property may well
  apply to more.

* Added an extra "Shorthand" field to overview table. Suggest a field
  in e.g. template for font-size to specify "font". Then font-size
  page would display "Shorthand: font" and font page would display
  "Shorthand for: font-family, font-size, font-weight" ... etc. for
  all properties that share the same shorthand.

* If property is marked as "inherited", should a syntax line & value
  description be automatically generated, or is it implicit, and is
  link to the "inherited" concept sufficient? Authors should not have
  to redundantly hard-code the "inherit" value at any rate.

* Fixed keyword values are bold, while variables are italic. The
  template provides no way to make that important distinction.

* Default text for <dd> text in "Values" section should not be italic.

* Heavily reformatted & merged compatibility table.

* Separated sub-issues in compatibility table (e.g. "vw/vh/vmin
  viewport units") with col-spanned table headings.

* Under compatibility notes, added less-than/greater-than/equals for
  explicit relation to version numbers.

* Removed redundant "See Also" head; used "Related Articles" instead

* Pushed Specification info into "Related Articles" area

* Reformatted most related-article links as 3-column to save space.
  (CSS formatting should kick in after # of list items exceeds a
  threshold.)

* Directly embedded a sample page as an <iframe>. This is only a
  suggested UI. Hopefully dabblet sample pages can be presented this
  way.

* Unclear what "Percentages" template option is intended for
  "Top-Level Summary", but it is not reflected in the resulting
  overview table.

--Mike Sierra

Received on Tuesday, 22 January 2013 20:34:53 UTC