Re: Proposal: Form factor media queries

On Fri, 09 Dec 2011 17:28:04 +0100, Tab Atkins Jr. <jackalmage@gmail.com>  
wrote:

> There are two solutions I see that could work for this:
>
> (1) Fix MQ so that browsers are allowed to match both "screen" and
> handheld/tv/projection/tablet at the same time.  If necessary, add a
> new type that functions as an exclusive desktop-targetted typed, since
> "screen" no longer functions as that.  Opera already fakes this
> approach, by matching projection when in fullscreen *if and only if*
> they detect a projection stylesheet; otherwise, it matches screen.  I
> don't know what GoogleTV ended up doing, but they discussed the same
> fakery with the tv type.
>
> (2) Deprecate the handheld/tv/projection media types, and make a new
> media query with those values instead, perhaps named "device-type".
> If necessary, mint another value for typical desktop/laptop screens.
>
> Now that Anne's no longer the editor of MQ, I suppose Florian is the
> one to ask about this.  What say you, Florian?

I would do neither 1 or 2.

Media types is a broken approach, for two reasons. Exclusivity is one,
and the fact that people will think of of new devices all the time
makes it a problem.

We should keep media types as they are, but focus future development
on media features.

When you want to make a TV style sheet, is it because the screen is
big (and far), or because it has a limited input mechanism? Could be
either, could be both, and depending on that, maybe your style sheet
would also apply to a projector, a poster, a gaming console...

Here are some examples of things we should be able to detect through
media features: continous vs paged, touchscreen or not, updatable
vs static (paper, e-ink...). There are certainly many more, but
the list isn't quite as subject to explosive growth as a list
of media or device types would be.

I believe this approach would work and scale much better than media
types.

  - Florian

Received on Wednesday, 14 December 2011 14:18:26 UTC