[CSS-TECHS] drop caps, :first-letter

Did anyone respond to Bjoern Hoehrmann's email about drop caps (sent October 2000).  Doesn't seem to me that anyone did.

http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-gl/2000OctDec/0014.html

My response is followed by the details of his question.

I created a test file with both versions for the heck of it. It's at: 
http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/tests/drop-caps.html

I propose that we give both examples.  Using the span element was a way to make drop caps that were backwards compatible.  As long as we let people know the level of support, they can decide how to do it.


In the CSS Techs we say the following

>[...]
>| 8 Text formatting and position
>|
>|    Checkpoints in this section: 3.3 Use style sheets to control layout
>|    and presentation. [Priority 2] .
>|
>|    The following CSS2 properties can be used to control the formatting
>|    and position of text:
>[...]
>|      * The :first-letter and :first-line pseudo-elements allow authors to
>|        refer to the first letter or line of a paragraph of text.
>|
>|    The following example shows how to use style sheets to create a
>|    drop-cap effect.
>|
>|    Example.
>|
>| <HEAD>
>| <TITLE>Drop caps</TITLE>
>| <STYLE type="text/css">
>|       .dropcap { font-size : 120%; font-family : Helvetica }
>| </STYLE>
>| </HEAD>
>| <BODY>
>| <P><SPAN class="dropcap">O</SPAN>nce upon a time...
>| </BODY>

Bjoern Hoehrmann says:
>This is not an example how to use style sheets to create a drop-cap effect.
>This should be marked as a deprecated example (and therefore omitted
>completly). One could have used <font> to create the same effect.
>
>Is this another erratum or does it make any sense I can't see? Especially,
>with this note:
>
>|    Note. As of the writing of this document, the CSS pseudo-element
>|    ':first-letter', which allows content developers to refer to the first
>|    letter of a chunk of text, is not widely supported.
>
>Only an example like
>
><head>
><title>Drop caps</title>
><style type="text/css"><!--
>  p:first-letter {
>    font-size: 120%;
>    font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;
>  }
>--></style>
></head>
><body>
><p>Once upon a time...</p>
></body>
>
>makes sense to me.


--wendy



-- 
wendy a chisholm
world wide web consortium 
web accessibility initiative
seattle, wa usa
/--

Received on Wednesday, 16 January 2002 15:26:55 UTC