RE: Property suggestions

> -----Original Message-----
> From: www-style-request@w3.org [mailto:www-style-request@w3.org]On
> Behalf Of Christian Kaufhold
> Sent: Tuesday, October 20, 1998 1:01 PM
> To: www-style@w3.org
> Subject: Property suggestions
>
>
> My suggestions for a future version of CSS:
> I would not use "tooltip" (to present a tooltip over the element) as a
> pseudo-element, as it has been suggested, but create it as a new
> property.
> Allowed values: none | auto | [ attr(x) || string ]+ | inherit
> Initial:        inherit
> Applies to:     all elements
> Media:          visual, interactive
>
> I also suggest a property "status" whose content is displayed in the
> status line of the browser, and which takes exactly the same values.
>
> Examples:
>
> * { tooltip:attr(title) }
> input[type=submit] { tooltip:"Submit the data" }
>
> a[href] { status:"Link to " attr(href) }
> blockquote,q[cite] { status:"Quotation from " attr(cite) }

The problem I have with these kinds of things is that they operate *outside*
the context of the page formatting and layout. Thus, I don't think they're
appropriate additions to a page layout language. The larger problem is that
you're using style sheets for *content*. The content belongs in the
document. We started down this slippery slope with generated content in
CSS2; it is a very easily-abused feature. Generated content should only be
used for content that has a superficial role and is non-essential. What you
describe would be more appropriate as attributes on elements in the markup
itself. I'd suggest you bring this up as an idea for HTML 5.

("Tooltip", in that context, seems superfluous, as browser makers have
already quite sensibly adopted TITLE for that purpose.)

Braden

<http://www.endoframe.com>

Received on Tuesday, 20 October 1998 14:50:26 UTC