Re: External style sheets (was: CSS integration proposal)

Arthur wrote on Tuesday, June 10, 2003 at 7:46:52 AM:

> But for alternate and all those other values, I don't know. I think
> we should stick with link for now unless someone can think of
> something better.

That's easy, considering how much the current system sucks. Hardly
anyone understands that naming a style sheet affects what type of
style sheet it is. Making the type of style sheet explicit through
some means would be a first step, as well as separating the presense
of a name from the function of a style sheet.

I have a rough idea of how I'd like external style sheets to function,
which I'll outline below. If the W3C is going to improve how external
style sheets are associated, the not-backwards-compatible XHTML2 is
the perfect oppurtunity to make this change.

I'm basing this off what's written in HTML 4.01:
<http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/present/styles.html#h-14.3>

    Alternate style sheets have a rel attribute including "alternate"
    and "stylesheet". Alternate style sheets are mutually exclusive
    (but see groups below). Example:

        rel="alternate stylesheet"

    Preferred style sheets have a rel attribute including "preferred",
    "stylesheet", and optionally "alternate" (because a preferred
    style sheet is by definition also an alternate style sheet).
    Examples:

        rel="preferred stylesheet"
        rel="preferred alternate stylesheet"

    As in HTML4, if there's more than one preferred stylesheet, only
    the first one is considered preferred (the rest are normal
    alternate style sheets).

    Persistent style sheets have a rel attribute including
    "stylesheet", excluding "alternate", and optionally including
    "persistent". Examples:

        rel="stylesheet"
        rel="persistent stylesheet"

    Style sheets belonging to one or more groups should include
    appropriate class attribute values. A group of style sheets
    functions as a single style sheet. (There's no practical
    difference between a style sheet that's not in a group and a style
    sheet that's in a group by itself.) Examples:

        class="modern"
        class="traditional"

    All style sheets should have a name (for the UA to present to the
    user) in a title attribute. URIs are a fallback if names are
    missing. Example:

        title="High contrast"

    UAs must provide user control over all style sheets (including
    persistent style sheets). If a particular style sheet belongs to
    one or more groups, UAs may provide control to the group(s)
    instead of the individual style sheet.

-- 
John Lewis

Received on Tuesday, 10 June 2003 11:20:28 UTC