What is "specified content?"

Rule 6 in section 17.5.1 of CSS2 [1] says:

  As the figure shows, although all rows contain the same number of
  cells, not every cell may have specified content. These "empty" cells
  are transparent, letting lower layers shine through.

What does "specified content" mean?  In particular, does it mean the
same thing as "visible content," which is defined in section
17.6.1 [2].

I want to know the answer because I'm trying to figure out whether a
table cell containing only a br element should have a background.

David

[1] http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/tables.html#table-layers
[2] http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/tables.html#empty-cells

L. David Baron    Sophomore, Harvard (Physics)    dbaron@fas.harvard.edu
Links, SatPix, CSS, etc.     <URL: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~dbaron/ >
WSP CSS AC                      <URL: http://www.webstandards.org/css/ >

Received on Sunday, 10 October 1999 14:46:44 UTC