Re: comment on CSS3 Box Model [Re: How is it possible to devise such a feeble system?]

Vadim Plessky <lucy-ples@mtu-net.ru> writes:

> |   The basic problem here is that the CSS box model was designed
> |   based on well-known concepts of document layout.  It is a very
> |   well-designed box model for documents.  However, it was not
> |   designed for user-interface layout.  The box model uses top-down
> |   (in the tree structure) width computation and bottom-up height
> |   computation and has almost no concept of bottom-up width
> |   computation or top-down height computation, which are
> 
> Re: "...based on well-known concepts of document layout."  It's
> pretty much correct when you think of dot-matrix printers, *good
> old* 70's and early 80's.  But in 1985 Hewlett-Packard introduced
> first consumer-oriented laser printing device - LaserJet. (based on
> laser printing technology, which in fact was developed in Xerox in
> 1970's, and first laser printer, while not consumer model, was
> launched by Xerox IIRC in 1978) Besides, Adobe introduced PostScript
> Language somewhere in early 80's too.  AFAIK both HP PCL, which now
> has official version 6 (PLC6), and Adobe PostScript Lev.3 (ver.3)
> allow you to layout page in *any* direction, and place elements in a
> way you want.

Well, Postscript is a page description language. I doubt that PS
itself can calculate where and how elements should be placed, as an
HTML renderer has to.

Postscript won't do any text flowing either.

But that's it what we are talking about.

Of course, you can write a Postscript /programm/ that flows your text,
but then you are not using PS as a page description language.

Received on Saturday, 3 November 2001 13:02:55 UTC