Re: CSS multi-column layout

At 10:13 AM -0700 4/18/97, Robert Stevahn wrote:
> Are columns useful independent of the ability to position images (and
> other things) between them?

Yes, I think so. The main thing is to be able to take advantage of the
typically  'landscape' orientation of the display for textual material,
without letting the lines run too long (bad ergonomics and ugly to boot),
nor to cut the data density of a "screenful" too precipitously by enforcing
a narrow single column.

> If so, what happens when an inline image
> is wider than the column width, and you're rendering the last column
> on a page?

In the "stream-paged" model I described, you could terminate the column
short and begin it in the next segment's first column, unless the author
had indicated a "keep together" with material falling in the preceding
segment. Then you'd break even earlier. If the image were quite large in
area, you could suspend columnar layout until it had flowed by.
Alternatively (or in addition) you could let images float into available
whitespace to avoid compelling a reflow. Finally, I am assuming that "image
size" will eventually be negotiable in the context of a layout, either as a
vector format, or as a resampled bitmap (e.g., 'inherit width of flow', 'do
not scale below 50% of actual pixel dimensions' etc.).

__________________
Todd Fahrner
http://www.verso.com

Received on Friday, 18 April 1997 14:18:23 UTC