Re: [css3-gcpm] Leaders

Håkon Wium Lie wrote:
> Also sprach Werner Donné:
> 
>  > 1) The leader function can have a string as well as a keyword as
>  >    its first argument. Since there is always a string alternative
>  >    for the keywords and since the approach is based on glyphs, I
>  >    think the keywords are not needed. They would only be needed
>  >    for things that are drawn by the UA, in which case for example
>  >    the spacing between the dots or the thickness of the rule should
>  >    be definable through a property.
> 
> True, they are not needed. It's merely convenience.
> 
>  > 2) The second optional argument to the leader function is not needed.
>  >    Regular properties influence the appearance of leaders, so the
>  >    regular inheritance rules can be applied.
> 
> The reason for having it is to achieve uniform leader sizes on pages
> with different font sizes. For example, in a toc you may have chapter
> entries with a (relatively) big size, and a subsection entry with a
> (relatively) small size. However, most often, you want the leaders
> extending from the text to have a uniform size.

This can be achieved without adding something new:

<span class="leader"/>

span.leader::after
{
  content: leader(dotted);
  font-size: 10pt;
}

You override anything that is inherited and for which you don't want the
inherited value.

> 
>  > 3) The WD asks "Should other properties influence the appearance of leaders?".
>  >    If leaders are repetitions of glyphs they are inline material and
>  >    hence any property that applies to inline elements should also
>  >    apply to leaders.
> 
> So, if 'letter-spacing' is set on a toc entry, dotted leaders should
> be spaced out as well?

Of course, and if you don't want the letter-spacing of the toc entry for
the leader, you can specify it as mentioned in point 2.

> 
>  > 4) Determining the length of a leader is based on the available empty
>  >    space on a line. It should also be possible to fix its length,
>  >    either through a property of type <length> (leader-length for example),
>  >    or perhaps by specifying the number of repetitions in an optional
>  >    argument to the leader function.
> 
> I disagree here. Leaders, by definition have a flexible length. If you
> knew the lenth, you would use a regular element.

Indeed, the repetition number is not needed, because you can insert the
exact number of glyphs you want in that case.

> 
> However, setting the *minimum* lenght of a leader is reasonable, I think.
> 
> -h&kon
>               Håkon Wium Lie                          CTO °þe®ª
> howcome@opera.com                  http://people.opera.com/howcome
> 
> 

-- 
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tel: (+32) 486 425803	e-mail: werner.donne@re.be

Received on Friday, 16 June 2006 09:49:16 UTC