Contextual selectors

I just want to run this by the list to make sure I properly understand
the process of selecting and ordering contextual selectors in CSS. 
Heck,  if I've gotten it right,  then maybe this will make it clearer
for other folks.

<H1>Here is the <EM>example</EM></H1>

If I have a set of selectors,  and I want to get those which match a
specific element,  say EM from the example above,  then I only will
select those which match the EM tag as their last selector.  So:

H1 EM { rule 1 .. }  will match 
EM { rule 2 ... } will match
H1 { rule 3 ... } will not match
EM.funny { rule 4 ... } will not match

A selector matches if the last item in the selector matches the tag,
tag+class, class or id of the element in question.  

I select the rules from the document's style,  the linked style sheet,
the user's (optionally) and the agent's.  I combine them in exactly that
order and then sort them on the weight from the selector.  The final
set of rules would be ordered something like this:

weight n, rule from document style sheet
weight n, rule from linked
weight n, rule from user's
weight n, rule from agent's
weight n-1, rule from document
weight n-1, rule from linked
weight n-1, ....

I then construct a style object using the parent element's style object
as a starting point,  inheriting the initial values for all properties
which are inherited.  I then modify the style object with the list of
rules from the lookup.

One other thing I noticed is that the weight is not dependent on which
matched element is which.  That is:

H1.red EM { rule.. }

has the same weight as:

H1 EM.funny { rule .. }

And there can be elements in the tree which aren't matched in the
selector,  but not vice-versus.  So <H1 class=red><B><EM
class=funny>element</EM></B></H1> is equivalent for the purposes of
lookup.

For the EM in <H1 class=red>some text<em class=funny>funny red</EM></H1>

Comments and correction are welcome.

Doug
-- 
Doug Rand				drand@sgi.com
Silicon Graphics/Silicon Desktop	http://reality.sgi.com/drand
Disclaimer: These are my views,  SGI's views are in 3D

Received on Thursday, 20 February 1997 09:52:08 UTC