'fixed' positioning [WAS: Header, Footer, and Sidebars]

On Tuesday, November 25, 1997 11:06 PM, Todd Fahrner 
[SMTP:fahrner@pobox.com] wrote:
> Hey that's brilliant Andrew! I'm stuck in Mac-land at home tonight, so
> can't evaluate as closely as I'd like, but you know CSS2 proposes a means
> to a similar end: the "fixed" property:

Thanks, Todd!

With regards to 'fixed':

First off, there is a Documentation error in the 4 Nov 1997 release.  At 
the below reference, 'fixed' got dropped from the value list.
	http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-CSS2/flowobj.html#propdef-position

Secondly, 'fixed doesn't solve the problem.  For example, take my sidebar 
DIV.  If I wanted the width to just barely fit the content, I could do this 
by controlling overflow.  The problem this causes is the width and left 
edge of the main DIV are determined until render time.

I could specify widths in em units, but then there is a big difference 
between monospaced and non-monospaced fonts.  How many em units is the word 
'mammals'? 'lift'? 'LIFT'?  There isn't a good answer because it is font 
dependent.

What I need is the concept of remaining space.  Then, for any reasonable 
length of the sidebar is, I could always be assured the main DIV lines up 
along side it properly.

Does it make sense to be able to set fixed positioning to an element deep 
within the document tree?
Shouldn't fixed positioning be with respect to the closest absolutely 
positioned, fixed positioned, or scrollable parent, as opposed to just the 
canvas?  If not, how do I fix something to my main <DIV> as a watermark?

Andrew n marshall
  student - artist - programmer
    http://www.media-electronica.com/anm-bin/anm
      "Everyone a mentor,  Everyone a pupil"

Received on Wednesday, 26 November 1997 14:18:05 UTC