RE: [css3-multicol] column overflow

Also sprach Alex Mogilevsky:

 > I also think it is a great idea, although I would be a little
 > concerned if it was the only option.
 > 
 > 1) Scrolling down to the next group of columns (if done manually)
 > is a distracting user experience. The user will have to stop
 > reading, scroll *precisely* to the top of the next group (so that
 > whole columns fit the viewport), then continue reading. It is very
 > different from hitting Right button enough times for next column or
 > two to appear.

Yes, but at least you get to see it. I think much content spilling
over to the right will never be seen because people aren't aware of it
being there.

 > It is still a good approach, it will probably work best when
 > accompanied by custom "Next Page" links which scroll exactly to the
 > next group. But that complicates the story a little.

Yes. 

 > 2) There are good use cases for infinite number of fixed-width
 > columns, scrollable horizontally. E.g. consider "address book"
 > view, with columns of contacts or business cards.

But, wouldn't you use tables for this kind of information?

 > 3) The ideal I think is the true paginated view, where overflow is
 > not visible but one set of columns is shown at a time, with UI to
 > go to previous/next set. That is somewhat orthogonal to this
 > proposal, but will IMO be necessary for using the full power of
 > columns.

It seems that most of us agree that having a paginated view would
improve the user experience. It's tempting to spec that behavior
instead of trying to place overflow content in a scrolled view.

How about:

   overflow-style: pages

on the root element.

We could add it to this draft:

  http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-box/#overflow-style

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

Received on Friday, 17 October 2008 22:52:45 UTC