Re: !important

One of the important changes that have been made to W3C specifications as a
result of WAI review was to change the meaning of !important in the CSS2 spec
(with regard to its meaning in CSS1).

In CSS1, it allows the author to override the user. It is recommended in that
spec that browsers provide a mechanism for turning off style sheets (this is
the work-around anyway).

In CSS2 the cascade order was changed - the following order applies (winners
first...):

User !important
Author !important
Author other styles
User other styles
Browser default

cheers

Charles McCN


On Tue, 10 Apr 2001, Jim Tobias wrote:

  Hi All,

  No, that subject line was not a way to make you read this message, nor
  can I offer you any income enhancement....

  It's about the "important" tag in CSS.  As I understand it, it's the
  last refuge of a designer who doesn't want a user's style sheet to override
  the design.  This would seem to jeopardize accessibility.

  1. Am I right about "important" -- does it override a user's style sheet?

  2. Is there a client-side antidote?

  3. Is this tag actually being used a lot?

  4. Is there a WAI strategy for this, at least in outreach?

  Thanks.

  Jim


  Jim Tobias
  Inclusive Technologies
  tobias@inclusive.com
  732.441.0831 v/tty
  www.inclusive.com


-- 
Charles McCathieNevile    http://www.w3.org/People/Charles  phone: +61 409 134 136
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative     http://www.w3.org/WAI    fax: +1 617 258 5999
Location: 21 Mitchell street FOOTSCRAY Vic 3011, Australia
(or W3C INRIA, Route des Lucioles, BP 93, 06902 Sophia Antipolis Cedex, France)

Received on Tuesday, 10 April 2001 09:44:55 UTC