Re: [css3-gcpm] Multi-column floats overflowing the column

On May 4, 2007, at 12:07 PM, Håkon Wium Lie wrote:

>
>> I would like to see some text explaining when (for
>> paged media) it is allowed for floated content to flow into
>> neighboring columns. Always? Only when using one of the new float
>> values? Only when float-offset is specified?
>
> The simplest way to solve this would be to drop clipping altogether
> and allow floats and other content to extend into other columns.
> However, implementors like clipping.
>
> Or, we could say that clipping should not be performed on floats.
>
> Or, as you suggest, the new float values or 'float-offset' could be
> triggers.
>
> What's your preferred solution?

Well, that's a tough one. If I wear my content-creation hat, I would  
say drop the clipping requirement all together (from the Multi-column  
draft). As an implementor, I would have to start wearing a hat, since  
I wouldn't have any hair left. Of course, if I want to implement  
paged media (and I do want to), then I would have to deal with these  
problems no matter what, so I guess (for me) removing the requirement  
is a fine solution. However, trying to imagine how I will implement  
automatic column balancing with decent line breaks and unpredictable  
line lengths makes my head hurt. I'm not really sure how I would even  
go about dealing with it. When I first read the Multi-column draft I  
was ecstatic when I saw the bit about clipping, though I knew my  
users weren't going to be terribly happy.

I guess, the bottom line is, if I have to do it then let's just make  
it consistent across specs and never require clipping. Otherwise,  
let's always require it.

>
> And, how to you like the rest of the GCPM draft?

There is a lot of good stuff in there. I just had someone ask if we  
could do something like continuation markers, so I am glad to see  
them. I haven't read the whole thing yet (I just jumped to the column  
support, which has some very nice controls in it). I am a little  
confused by the column support being in this spec, though. Most other  
things make sense (footnotes, headers/footers, etc), but I don't see  
what about the column support is specific to paged media. Actually,  
that's why I read that section first - to understand what it was  
doing here :) For those of us who have been working in the paged  
media space for years, it's very nice to see some significant work  
coming out of the W3C on it.

--Brady

Received on Friday, 4 May 2007 19:39:02 UTC