Re: [CSS21] display:run-in clarifications - run-in and :first-line

On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 3:58 PM, Giovanni
Campagna<scampa.giovanni@gmail.com> wrote:
> 2009/9/2 Tab Atkins Jr. <jackalmage@gmail.com>:
>> On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 1:01 PM, Bert Bos<bert@w3.org> wrote:
>>> Combining run-in headings with first-line styling may no doubt give
>>> interesting effects (at least interesting challenges for
>>> implementers :-) ), but I can't remember ever having seen it in use.
>>> That is no doubt because such a thing is difficult to recognize: if you
>>> apply a first-line style to a paragraph, then it becomes difficult to
>>> see that the paragraph starts with a heading. Which means, in effect,
>>> that combining these effects is bad typography.
>>
>> To an extent.  I think that reasonably common typographic effects on
>> first-lines include small-caps and increases in letter-spacing, both
>> of which can be reasonably applied to a run-in header without removing
>> the 'header-ness' of it (which is often conveyed through weight or
>> size).
>>
>> So, let's talk typographic convention.  First: in normal typography,
>> is the header styled identically as a block and run-in?  I think not -
>> at the very least, block headers are usually substantially bigger than
>> the surrounding body text, while run-in headers are equal size or only
>> slightly larger.  So, there's a vote for having *some* mechanism of
>> styling a header differently when it's a run-in.
>
> If you said display:run-in, then it will run in, and you can style it
> appropriately.
> In fact, you can infer from the source and style if the element will
> effectively run in, or if it will became a block (you know what the
> following element is, what are the contents of the run-in header,
> etc.). Using creative selectors (especially those available in CSS4,
> like :has() or :precedes()) you can even get different styles in case
> you assign display:run-in to all your <h1>s.

I disagree that you can always determine that a header is going to run
in.  Part of the point of run-in is that you can be flexible about it,
and only run in when appropriate.

The selectors required to hack an effect similar to :running-in would
be formidable.

>> Second: when headers are run-in with a specially styled first-line,
>> are they styled the same?  You yourself suggest that they are not, and
>> I agree.  While some styles are shared (my point two paragraphs ago),
>> some properties are sufficiently different so that you can still
>> visually tell the header apart from the content.  So, that suggests
>> that using ::first-line on run-in headers isn't sufficient, at least
>> on its own.
>
> I don't understand what you mean. Bert said that using ::first-line on
> run-in is just wrong, or anyway it won't be used much.

And I disagreed with Bert, with qualifications.

>> This points to the idea that we need a way to target headers with
>> styles based on whether they're running-in or staying block.  The
>> first idea that comes to mind is a :running-in pseudoclass on the
>> header that matches whenever the header is running-in.  This seems
>> like a good idea, but is it enough?  Can this by itself solve the
>> styling issue so we can go with Option A and just sidestep the
>> inheritance issue?
>
> See above: creative selectors plus knowledge of the source and style.
> Plus, I think you can forget about:
> - new features for CSS2 or Selectors3
> - pseudo-classes based on the formatting structure (they cause
> circular dependencies)

I'm not talking about adding new features to the existing CSS2 or
Selectors3; they're too close to Rec to make that an option.

Circular dependencies are a possibility (such as
"h1:running-in{display:block}"), but I think that can be worked around
in this case.

Alternately, a ::run-in pseudoelement on the subsequent block could be
used, which can then disallow the use of properties that would make
its content not a run-in.

> I think that Option B is what makes more sense, since the run-in is on
> the first formatted line, right?

I agree, it just makes things more complicated.

> And it allows you to override properties from :first-letter that you
> don't like by setting them explicitly on the run-in.

Actually, you can't do that.  ::first-letter nests as deeply as
possible, so it will override element-specific rules.

~TJ

Received on Wednesday, 2 September 2009 21:47:05 UTC