- From: Bert Bos <bert@w3.org>
- Date: Thu, 31 Jul 1997 11:56:43 +0200
- To: www-style@w3.org
Paul Prescod wrote: > > The Web fonts spec looks very complete. Good work! > > I wonder, though, if it has to be so explicitly tied to CSS. If XML's > stylesheet language is not CSS, or if another stylesheet language is > developed for HTML, then the WebFonts work would presumably be not > applicable. Right now the syntax and semantics are inextricably tied. So > much so that strictly speaking this standard would have to be updated > when CSS2 comes out, or incorporated into it: Yes, it is intended to become an integral part of CSS. But we do also want it to be applicable in other places where fonts are needed, even if they don't need the rest of CSS. Although CSS is a single, internally consistent (I hope) system, it is not intended as an all-or-nothing specification. For example, a synchronized multimedia format[2] might use the positioning properties and backgrounds, but has probably no use for fonts. On the other hand, Java might want to use the Web Fonts, but doesn't need the other properties. If you look at the Web Fonts as a black box with input and output, then the input consists of values for 5 properties: font-family, font-weight, font-variant, font-style, and font-size. The output is a font. We have looked at how DSSSL characteristics could be mapped to these five properties, and the mapping is not very complicated. We will probably provide that mapping in some Note or other document. (Or if you want to do it? That'll save us some work...) > "This specification extends the font mechanisms in CSS1..." > > I think that it would be possible to define descriptors and algorithms > with a variable syntax and present a *sample syntax* that happens to be > CSS for pedagogic purposes. This could save a lot of work later on as > well as perhaps extend the specification's applicability -- perhaps even > to non-web applications. That will probably be done by means of DOM[1]. As soon as it is part of DOM, you'll automatically have many new syntaxes (C, Java, Javascript, etc.), but I think it would be a bad idea to create alternative syntaxes just for Web Fonts. Every new syntax means extra work for implementers, larger applications, less interoperability, more things for people to learn, and general confusion. Bert [1] http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/DOM/ [2] http://www.w3.org/AudioVideo/ -- Bert Bos ( W 3 C ) http://www.w3.org/ http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/People/Bos/ INRIA/W3C bert@w3.org 2004 Rt des Lucioles / BP 93 +33 4 93 65 77 71 06902 Sophia Antipolis Cedex, France
Received on Thursday, 31 July 1997 05:56:49 UTC