RE: Positioned Layout proposal

> From: Tab Atkins Jr. [mailto:jackalmage@gmail.com]


> Another would be placing annotations in the margins alongside some
> text - google docs does this.

That's definitely a use-case. The more, the better ! (To a reasonable
extent, of course...)

Any thought about what it means OM-wise ? Today top/left and bottom/right
coordinates are relative to the same two origins for all elements and a 
fair amount of code can and does takes it for granted to achieve all kinds
of effects. To take a simple example - not a use-case :) - if two abspos 
elements are siblings within the same containing block you can make one 
overlay the other by making their top/left properties match. With this 
proposal you would also need to make sure they refer to the same origin
...or take extra steps.

So while the mechanics are straightforward and simple for the static stylesheet
author, the extra level of indirection adds potential complexity for script
developers given the current CSSOM API, especially those who build toolkits/libraries.

Received on Monday, 18 October 2010 23:03:46 UTC