Re: [CSS21] Typo in 5.12.2 The :first-letter pseudo-element

At 7:53 PM +0300 5/3/05, Ognyan Kulev wrote:

>Adam Kuehn wrote:
>>  [offlist response]
>
>Why offlist?

Because I didn't think it would be of general interest.  Evidently, I 
was mistaken.

However, as a matter of netiquette, one typically does not forward an 
off-list reply back to the list without prior consent.  In this case, 
I don't particularly care, but it is nevertheless bad form.

>  > "Abut" means "next to" or "adjacent to".
>
>Oh, I checked in a dictionary but the word wasn't there.

IMHO, that just means you need a better dictionary.

>Google finds
>only names, at least in the first page.

If you are looking for the definition of a term in Google, preface 
your search with "define:".  Google will provide you with a list of 
sites that purport to define the search term.  While it's no 
substitute for a dictionary, it is a fairly reliable way to get at 
least a sense of the meaning of a given term.

>Now I've checked Oxford and
>Merriam-Webster online dictionaries and there really is such word.  OK,
>it makes sense now.

I don't think this is a particularly uncommon word, and its use here 
seems appropriate, although not particularly enlightening.  It may be 
good to more clearly compare and contrast the :first-line and 
:first-letter pseudo-elements.  As worded in that section, it isn't 
entirely clear what the precise differences (or similarities) really 
are.  Perhaps phrasing more like this:

"Note that the fictional :first-letter pseudo-element tags are 
inserted adjacent to the content (i.e. abutting the initial 
character), but the fictional :first-line pseudo-element tags are 
inserted immediately after the start tag of the innermost block 
element to which they apply.  This may affect what properties are 
inherited into or from the respective pseudo-elements."

That takes the "problem" word and puts it into a secondary role, and 
makes the reason for the comparison easier to follow, but perhaps it 
is too specific.  Anyway, it's offered FWIW.

-- 

-Adam Kuehn

Received on Tuesday, 3 May 2005 18:54:18 UTC