Possible inadequacies in CSS3 Border-Image proposed specification

I've been bbrowsing through the CSS3 drafts to see what things may come in 
the future (deciding on whether I should wait for widespread CSS3 support 
before changing the way my site is currently structured) and I noticed 
some things which seem lacking in the draft regaurding the module: Borders.
Now this message may be taken as unwelcome, but as long as the 
specification is still a work-in-progress it seems the right time (if not 
the right place) to make note of such things. I am hoping that this 
message will be seen and perhaps considered by whoever it is that 
ultimately makes decisions.

The current draft ( http://www.w3.org/TR/2002/WD-css3-border-20021107/ ) 
would allow for up to 16 images to be specified for a border. I realize 
that it is impossible, and doesnt make sense to try, to make everyone 
happy. However, by my count, the logical number of images to allow for is 
not 16, but 24. That is, 3 per edge and 3 per corner.

Now, it may be possible to emulate this effect by setting negative-padding 
on the contained content, placing clones of the background-image or 
background-color within the images used by the border itself. This would 
seem like a dirty hack, however, and may in some cases be impossible to 
impliment (if, for example, the bottom-edge's position is variable, it 
would be impossible to line up the background image with the border image)

Yes, its usefulness would be limited, similar layouts using tables are not 
widespread, but they do exist. Because of their current difficulty, most 
such layouts which I have seen resort to using a fixed-size. For these few 
people, allowing 3 images to be specified for each corner would be a boon. 
Come to think of it, I personally can recall more instances of seeing 3 
images used for corners than instances of 3 images used for edges.

I guess I've made my argument for allowing the use of three images per 
corner. Does anyone have an argument against?

Of course, if this is the wrong place to even mention such things, please 
send me a private e-mail telling me who I should talk to.

---------------------
Vincent Starre
thebitman@comcast.net

Received on Saturday, 17 January 2004 15:51:20 UTC