Re: [CSS 21] overflow:hidden adjacent to a float

Ingo Chao wrote:
> My concern is:
> The variance has grown. What happened after the change in CSS2.1:9.5
> is that while Fx changed from margin-box to border-box, Opera and IE
> changed from border-box to margin-box. And it makes me nervous to see
> an additional /right/ margin, where no one is declared, in Safari, but
> in Opera 9.24 too. Different implementations conclude to the same bug?
> Finally, I think it cannot be expected that designers test in latest
> betas if (and when, to what extend) the box is narrowed.


I agree.


> There is nothing invalid here, and my concerns are not based on a
> behavior of a particular browser. Actually the screenshot shows that
> there isn't even the tendency for interoperability among the browsers.
> 
> That makes overflow next to a float currently unusable (and it is
> irrelevant that I believe that overflow is greatly misused for
> containing floats). My suggestion was to consider defining the
> expected rendering. How can I place content into this overflow box
> without knowing if the next browser clips it or not while narrowing
> the box, when the narrowing itself is undefined?


This is a very valid point.


> I'd prefer a box that establishes a new block formatting context to be
> not narrowed at all. This would not even have to be defined, just
> cancel the last two sentences in paragraph 5 of CSS2.1:9.5 and let the
> paragraph end with:
> "If necessary, implementations should clear the said element by
> placing it below any preceding floats."
> 
> Thanks


I agree. That would mean that in your test case Ingo the desired 
rendering of the overflow:hidden box is like IE7 in the screenshot you 
provided. Not clipped as in FF3 RC or showing whitespace to the right as 
in Safari or a margin-left of 20px with Opera 9.5. No author can really 
use these properties with such inconstancy between implementations due 
to an undefined spec.


Alan

Received on Tuesday, 20 May 2008 09:07:13 UTC