Re: [css3-gcpm] border-length

Also sprach Brad Kemper:

 > > border-parts: 1em auto 2em
 > 
 > I'm still trying to grasp what the spec is trying to achieve with  
 > border-length or border-parts. Is it so that there can be a short line  
 > above the footnotes?

Yes, this was the starting point.

 > It seems to me that what you are starting to create is a way to  
 > specify the dashes and gaps in dashed borders, which would be very  
 > broadly useful, not just for this module. It could go into the borders  
 > module. 

Agreed, it seems generally useful.

 > So, for instance:
 > 
 > border-top: 1px dashed black;
 > dashes: 1em 2em;
 > 
 > The above would create repeating 1em-wide dashes with 2em gaps. This  
 > would mean that if you had dashed borders on more than one side of the  
 > box, they would all share the same dash-gap pattern (as is the case  
 > today). To recreate your example in the quoted text above, you would  
 > do it almost the same:
 > 
 > border-top: 1px dashed black;
 > dashes: 1em auto 2em;
 > 
 > This assumes that if you have more than two lengths, and at least one  
 > was "auto" (a flex unit, more or less), then the dashes would not  
 > repeat on that edge. Otherwise they would. For repeating dash-gap  
 > patterns then, you would probably need to have an even number of  
 > lengths:
 > 
 > border: 1px dashed black;
 > dashes: 12px 4px 2px 4px;
 > 
 > In this example, the border would have a repeating pattern of 12px  
 > dash, 4px gap, 2px dash, and 4px gap. Something a little like this:
 > 
 > ------  -  ------  -  ------  -  ------
 > 
 > With this dash notation, you could create even more complex patterns:
 > 
 > border: 1px dashed black;
 > dashes: 12px 4px 10px 4px 8px 4px 6px 4px 8px 4px 10px 4px;

It's an interesting proposal. Would you restrict it to one proprerty?
In which case, you couldn't achive example XXXVI (36) here:

  http://dev.w3.org/csswg/css3-gcpm/#border1

Also, by saying that patterns with one or two values repeat, example
XL (40, I'm starting to hate the Romans. They didn't die from lead
poisoning, their number system is the culprit) will not work:

  border-parts: 10px;

Because, in this example, you don't want the pattern to repeat.

Perhaps one could use the (implied) presence of the 'auto' keyword (or
flex unit) to stop repetitions?

Hmm.

-h&kon
              Håkon Wium Lie                          CTO °þe®ª
howcome@opera.com                  http://people.opera.com/howcome

Received on Wednesday, 15 October 2008 15:51:48 UTC