"inline" elements in CSS2 box model, and "inline-block" in CSS3

 
I was trying for some time to reformat simple tescase from vertical layout 
(DIV) to horizontal, when several 100x30 px boxes  
(size/shape similar to 
http://htmltests.newmail.ru/css/horiz-box-DIV-position-relative.html) 
follow each other (and overlap, in bottom part, one on another)
There are significant difficulties with implementing it with CSS2 rules.
I am getting something like this
http://htmltests.newmail.ru/css/horiz-box-SPAN-position-relative.html
when SPAN height is shrinked to text height, and width - to the width of the 
text.
Shift of SPAN box to left becomes completely unpredictable, as width of first 
box depends on its text.

From other side, this effect can be easily achieved with CSS3 specs
http://htmltests.newmail.ru/css/horiz-box-SPAN-position-relative-css3.html
Unfortunately, none of current browser implementations support CSS3, so I 
can't check how this example would be 
rendered in by real browser.
From my experience, placing several blocks of block-formatted elements one 
after another in one line is very convinient, 
and natural way for HTML content formatting.
Unfortunately, none browser supports full CSS2 specs nowdays, and we are 
probably 3-5 years from now for CSS3 support 
in mainstream browsers.

Therefor, I would like to propose to include (*backport* from CSS3) { 
display: inline-block; } in CSS2 specifications.
It should speedup adoption of "inline-block" by 2-4 years, as manufacturers 
of mainstream browsers, realistically speaking, 
can add support for it within 1 year.
My testing shows that (inline) box model in Microsoft Internet Explorer is 
already very close to this, so implementing 
display: inline-block;  should be not very difficult for Microsoft. I hope 
Konqueror and Mozilla developers can add support for it, too.
  
I don't know exactly what formal process should follow such addition to CSS2, 
but I would be glad to offer help preparing docs, 
specification and testcases. If there are any questions open, I would like to 
clarify them as well.
-- 
My Best Regards,


Vadim Plessky
http://kde2.newmail.ru  (English)
33 Window Decorations and 6 Widget Styles for KDE
http://kde2.newmail.ru/kde_themes.html
KDE mini-Themes
http://kde2.newmail.ru/themes/

Received on Tuesday, 9 October 2001 02:48:25 UTC