RE: backward compatibility in scripting style sheets

We don't throw an error when you assign a value to an unknown property, only
when you assign an unknown value to a known property.  We did this in order
that IE4 may be used as a validator.

The W3C doesn't advise for or against it, inasmuch as neither the CSS or
Document Object Model Working Groups have defined exactly what script access
to stylesheets looks like or how it behaves (the DOM group is working on
it).  However, assigning a default value would almost certainly be wrong -
the CSS specification says, for composite properties at least, that if part
of the value is unrecognized the statement is to be ignored.

-Chris Wilson
 Internet Explorer Team
 cwilso@microsoft.com

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	John Ky (HxG) [SMTP:z2206460@student.unsw.edu.au]
> Sent:	Saturday, March 21, 1998 8:59 AM
> To:	STYLE
> Subject:	backward compatibility in scripting style sheets
> 
> In the current implementation of IE4, when scripting
> styles of individual elements, assigning styles with
> an incorrect style property produces an error dialog.
>  
> I fear that future extensions to the CSS will break
> IE4's implementation.  Does W3C advise for or
> against this?  Would it not be wiser to simply use
> a default style property when a given property is
> invalid?

Received on Saturday, 21 March 1998 12:49:39 UTC