Positioning problem

In CSS2 I seem to be missing a way of positioning an element after the
end of a box that's been taken out of normal flow.

It would be useful to be able to have, for example, several elements (of
height:auto) occupying the same space, and so that any subsequent
element will begin only after the largest of them:


   |              |
   |              | <- previous elements
   |______________|
   |      |  |    |
   |      |  |    |
   |      |  |    |
   |      |  |    | <- several elements 
   |      |__|    |    occupying the same space
   |      |       |
   |      |_______|
   |______|_______|
   |              | <- subsequent elements
   |              |    start here
   |              |               


Or perhaps a way to force a containing block to expand to the end of an
element that's been taken out of normal flow.


[I notice the 'static-position' value (i.e. position element as if
static) for 'bottom' seems to be going spare - might it not be used to
enable an absolutely positioned element to fix the position of the
subsequent continuation of normal flow (i.e. continue as if element had
been static)? Of course, it would play no part in the calculation of
heights (10.6.4), where it would be interpreted as 'bottom:auto'.

Or maybe it could be used on a containing block - i.e. to cause it to
expand to accommodate any child boxes not in normal flow?

OK, so I'm not too keen on that confusion of concepts either :) - maybe
there's some other way?]


-- 
Regards,
Val Sharp - Edinburgh

Received on Thursday, 1 March 2001 14:03:41 UTC