Re: Netscape's SPACER

  From: Hakon Lie <howcome@w3.org>

| 
| Holger Struppek writes:
| 
|  > >>Can anyone explain to me what the TYPE and SIZE attributes add to SPACER
|  > >>besides complexity, confusion, and extra characters?
|  > 
|  > You can use SPACER in three different ways:
|  > 
|  > a)
|  > <SPACER TYPE=HORIZONTAL SIZE=width>
|  > (behaves like multiple &nbsp;)
| 
| No, it doesn't. The width of &nbsp; is relative to the font that is
| being used, while the SIZE attribute takes pixel values.
| 
| Compare this with the CSS1 [1] alternative:
| 
|   <BR STYLE="display: inline; width: 10px">  <!-- pixel units -->
|   <BR STYLE="display: inline; width: 10pt">  <!-- point units -->
|   <BR STYLE="display: inline; width: 10em">  <!-- ems, relative to font size -->
|   <BR STYLE="display: inline; width: 10%">   <!-- %, relative to parent 
|                                                   element's width -->
| 
| 
| The first example is equivalent to a horizontal spacer. The other
| examples show examples of other units that are supported in CSS1. I
| believe graphics designers want all these units to be available.
| 
| The "display: inline" part in the above examples is there because BR
| is normally a block-level element. One can avoid this annoyance by
| using an inline element, but then an end tag is required:
| 
|   <SPAN STYLE="width: 10px"></SPAN>
| 
| 
|  > b)
|  > <SPACER TYPE=VERTICAL SIZE=height>
|  > (behaves like an 'invisble <HR>')
| 
| Again, the only units supported are pixels. Compare this with:
| 
|   <BR STYLE="width: 10px">
|   <BR STYLE="width: 10pt">
|   <BR STYLE="width: 10em">
|   <BR STYLE="width: 10%">
| 
|  > c)
|  > <SPACER TYPE=BLOCK WIDTH=width HEIGHT=height ALIGN=alignment>
|  > (behaves like an invisible image)
| 
| Ditto:
| 
|   <BR STYLE="width: 10px; height: 10pt">
| 
| [1] http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/Style/css
| 
| Regards,
| 
| -h&kon
| 
| Hakon W Lie, W3C/INRIA, Sophia-Antipolis, France
| http://www.w3.org/people/howcome  howcome@w3.org
| 
| 
| 

Received on Wednesday, 17 July 1996 09:44:19 UTC