Re: text-align property for columns (once again)

On Thu, 2009-04-09 at 08:14 -0700, Brad Kemper wrote:
> CSS goes further, and splits markup language (such as (X)HTML) away  
> from appearance/style. And it does so with the assumption of a parent/ 
> descendent structure to the markup language. The COL element predates  
> CSS, was created mostly for styling inside the markup language (where  
> it no longer belongs), and is really an oddball in the way it pretends  
> to be a father to the TD, when really the TD only has a mother (the  
> TR). I can really think of nothing else in HTML that is similar. It  
> should really be deprecated, IMO.

Well, maybe there's nothing similar in HTML as there's actually nothing
similar.
Tables are 2D structures within a 1D tag stream.
I'd say this is enough to make them unique.
I would not deprecate <col>.
How would you define "column properties" in a table?
Cell by cell?

> Are you suggesting that the people on this list are not interested in  
> extending CSS with new features and properties to make it more useful?

Not at all!
I'm just suggesting to make CSS more powerful and useful.

> COL's lack of parent/descendent relationship to the TD or TH throws  
> normal CSS property inheritance (which is a very key feature of CSS),  
> right out the window. To add it back—in a way that allowed a table  
> cell to inherit from the table column—would be very complicated,  
> requiring a lot more time and effort than you would probably guess.

CSS can be extended this way: columns CAN BE parents of cells (just like
rows are), despite their position in the syntax tag flow.
I think that once you accept this concept, everything can fit.

> And for anything that gets added to CSS, its usefulness must be  
> balanced against the effort required. You have not shown a use case  
> for doing so that could not be handled just as well (or better) by the  
> ":nth-col()" or ":col()" pseudo-classes that we have been discussing.
> These new pseudo-classes for selecting a table cell based on its  
> column number would allow styling beyond what is available in COL, and  
> would be much easier to implement.

That's interesting indeed. But IMHO it's also duplicating the <col>
concept that's already in place.

I appreciate a lot the job of the CSS GW and am far from criticizing it.

Received on Thursday, 9 April 2009 15:43:37 UTC