Re: box-shadow and features

On May 16, 2008, at 1:11 AM, Alan Gresley wrote:

> I will revise my own statement about inner shadow (doesn't make  
> sense). I do think that really there should be a property for inner  
> shadow such as box-highlight. Yes, quite confusing for authors since  
> box-shadow can emulate shadows or highlights and box-highlight would  
> do the same.

I see no reason to create a whole new property for inner shadow and  
call it highlight. An inner shadow is exactly the same as an outer  
shadow, except that it is cast on the element (by its negative space  
[1]) instead of by the element, creating a "cut out" effect instead of  
a "lifted above" effect. It should just be an added keyword on shadows  
that defaults to "outer" (you are not likely to want inner and outer  
on the same element).

And "inner shadow" is a common term. There are many tutorials on the  
Web for how to do them in various programs. Here, for instance, is how  
to do it in InDesign:

http://indesignsecrets.com/making-an-inner-shadow-in-indesign-cs2.php


[1] Negative space: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_space