[CSS21] [CSS3-Text] Which characters are white space in content?

This question arises out of a discussion of whether the no breaking
space (U+00A0) should be expanded during justification.  In the
course of that discussion [1] I pointed among other things to the
definition of the 'white-space' property in CSS 2.1 where one is
referred to the definition in the syntax.

However in CSS 3 Text [2], no such pointer is made and in the
discussion it was indicated that the WG now considers the
pointer in CSS 2.1 to be an error.  The problem is. that leaves
no normative definition of what CSS considers to be white space.

CSS 3 Text Section 7.2 dances around the issue, referring to the
XML 1.0, XML 1.1, and HTML 4.01 definitions of white space, but
never clearly stating which, if any, is normative.  One possible
interpretation is that the definition of what constitutes white space
in CSS is to be left to the document language, with line feed, space
and tab forming a minimal definition, but that is never made explicit.

So what exactly is white space in content in CSS to be?  The possible
interpretation given  above seems to be good, but I would prefer
that it was stated clearly rather than it being implied.

(Note: I am not asking about the definition for the CSS grammar,
that definition is clear., nor am I asking about whether U+00A0
should be justified.  Unicode UAX#14, Section 3, fourth paragraph,
is explicit that it should not be, but since that annex contains
non-normative portions, I was using the CSS definition of white
space to reinforce my position, and even with the most liberal
of interpretations, there is nothing in CSS that would counter it.)

[1] http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=156211
[2] http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-text/#white-space-props

Received on Sunday, 29 February 2004 11:20:18 UTC