- From: Todd Fahrner <fahrner@pobox.com>
- Date: Fri, 22 May 1998 12:01:00 -0700
- To: "Frank Boumphrey" <bckman@ix.netcom.com>, "gordon" <gordon@quartz.gly.fsu.edu>
- Cc: "'Style Sheet mailing list'" <www-style@w3.org>
Frank Boumphrey wrote (1:52 PM -0400 5/22/98): " >>and P is an inline " element. << " " Now thats news to me!! " I thought a block level element was one with a line break before and after " it, and P certainly has that!!<g> No - that's a description of the "block" display type, which is different from the content model description of a block level element. Block level elements like P may not be contained by inline level elements like EM in HTML. It is for the stylesheet to say whether P or EM have inline, block, list-item, or "none" as display types, at least as of CSS1 (never implemented). Block level elements seem to come in two flavors: those that may contain other blocks (called "flow" in the DTD, examples being BODY, BLOCKQUOTE, and DIV) and those that may not (e.g., P, H3). This is still a little murky to me - help wanted. As for why you can set a width on DIV but not on BODY or P in IE4, it seems that some blocks are more equal than others. It seems to me that DIV is a privileged element because it's really handy to have around if you (a) don't want to bother with all those fussy HTML structural elements when you're treating it as just a display format and (b) if you don't implement the CSS1 display types, so need some quick way to produce a line break (without extra vertical whitespace) and still be well-formed. Todd Fahrner mailto:todd@lowbrow.com http://www.verso.com/agitprop/ The printed page transcends space and time. The printed page, the infinitude of books, must be transcended. THE ELECTRO-LIBRARY. - El Lissitzky, 1923
Received on Friday, 22 May 1998 14:53:08 UTC