[css3-layout] Drop it?

Hi,

I noticed on the WG blog that a new working draft of the Template
Layout Module has been published. This lead me to wonder exactly what
is going on with this spec in relation to the other layout proposals
and what web browsers are actually intending to implement.

My understanding, probably incomplete, is that Template Layout covers
similar ground to Grid Layout and Regions but that, despite predating
those specs by several years, it has not been implemented in a browser
and there is little prospect of that changing soon. Meanwhile,
experimental implementations of Grid Layout and Regions are
available/in-progress for IE and Webkit.

I can understand that if people have invested effort into this module
they would not wish to see it die, but if it is not going to be
implemented, and has been supplanted by specs that are, then I would
question the value of the W3C continuing to invest editor resources
updating and publishing it. Would it not be better to retire it and
concentrate efforts on those other specs? It just seems a little
strange, and potentially misleading from an outside perspective, for
the WG to have a layout module that is competing at least partially
with other proposals, and which appears to have lingered for years in
draft status without any progress towards even an experimental
implementation.

Thanks,

Jon Rimmer

Received on Saturday, 10 December 2011 01:36:07 UTC