[css3-2d-transforms] Should a transformed element reflow its content ?

As described in CSS3 2D Transforms, transformed elements have no
effect on the layout of the surrounding elements. From both
the spec and current implementations, the effect on the element's
own content is less clear in some cases. In the attached test case,
a block container holds a number of inline elements. (Each element
has a different background color and ends up on a different line in 
many Windows browsers but your mileage may vary). This container
is sized to 100%/100% of its 200px/200px parent.

The top rendering is the reference untransformed version.

The bottom rendering shows the result of applying a scale(2)
from origin (0,0) transform with overflow:visible. The result 
across all implementations today is equivalent to stretching
the content of the reference element.

The middle test applies the same transform but the parent has
overflow:scroll. In this case it seems the text is being reflowed
in most implementations today i.e. it no longer wraps as the 
reference element does. (You may have to carefully examinate which
word begins a given line to spot the difference).

Is this intentional ?

My expectation was that the result of the transform would be
the same regardless of overflow mode.

[1] http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-2d-transforms/

Received on Wednesday, 3 November 2010 14:06:26 UTC