Re: [css3-text] script-specific functionality

On Apr 8, 2011, at 12:58 PM, "Tab Atkins Jr." <jackalmage@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Fri, Apr 8, 2011 at 11:05 AM, fantasai <fantasai.lists@inkedblade.net> wrote:
>> On 04/08/2011 10:47 AM, Tab Atkins Jr. wrote:
>>> On Fri, Apr 8, 2011 at 10:38 AM, fantasai<fantasai.lists@inkedblade.net>
>>>  wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> I suggest we remove the 'text-outline' property -- 'text-shadow'
>>>>>> should cover it.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I don't have answer to this question, sorry again -- fantasai?
>>>> 
>>>> I have no problem with that. It was even marked as a suggestion in the
>>>> draft already. ;)
>>> 
>>> I'd disagree with this - text-shadow isn't an adequate replacement for
>>> a real outline/stroke.  Shadows do a half-job, but you need 4 or 8
>>> shadows in your code to do it, and they lose detail in a way that's
>>> pretty bad for some fonts.
>>> 
>>> Brad had a really good diagram showing the distinction between shadow
>>> and outline, and just how much better a real outline looks in some
>>> situations.
>> 
>> The 'text-outline' property wasn't about stroking the letters. It did
>> exactly the same thing as spread on text shadows. Although it could be
>> argued that it should keep corners sharp rather than rounding them, it
>> doesn't encroach on the glyph face, only paints around it.
>> 
>> Here's an illustration of the effect:
>>  http://www.fireworkszone.com/tuts/626/thicktextoutline_1.gif
>> The text outline is the white part.
> 
> Oh, okay.  If the effect of text-outline really was equivalent to just
> doing a spread on text-shadow, then there's no harm removing it.

I think the effect of spreading a shadow is probably good enough for how to achieve a text-outline effect. With PostScript, the stroke can have sharp corners (and be behind the block of letters to avoid intrusion into the glyphs), but is probably overkill for an implementor trying to keep a light footprint and fast rendering. Perhaps we should keep the property, for two reasons: 

1) it would be more intuitive for authors who want an outline (especially if it had the same syntax as 'border'), without 'hacking' text-shadow for the same effect, and...

2) if an OS already provided routines for stroking letters with high quality, sharp-cornered strokes, the implementor could be allowed to use that (or roll their own, or however they roll go with that).

Received on Friday, 8 April 2011 23:09:23 UTC