RE: [css3-multicol] pseudo-algorithm

> -----Original Message-----
> From: www-style-request@w3.org [mailto:www-style-request@w3.org] On Behalf
> Of Sylvain Galineau
> Sent: Thursday, February 10, 2011 6:25 PM
> To: Brad Kemper
> Cc: Håkon Wium Lie; www-style@w3.org
> Subject: RE: [css3-multicol] pseudo-algorithm
> 
> > On Feb 10, 2011, at 4:22 PM, Sylvain Galineau <sylvaing@microsoft.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > While it can be argued to be what the author wanted - the column-width
> > > is auto but column-count and column-gap are explicitly specified so
> > > the algorithm makes every effort to honor the author's request
> >
> > That's the argument that seems most compelling to me.
> 
> OK.
> 
> >
> > > - I'm not sure this is helpful as it means column-width:auto might
> > > yield poorer result when, for instance, the user snaps/tiles his
> > > window to half the screen space.
> >
> > If I had 10 auto-width columns that got very narrow when the window got
> > half as big, then at least it is not at all surprising. I wouldn't want
> my
> > values ignored because the browser thought it knew better than to give me
> > what I asked for. I should have thought of the ramifications before I
> > tried to squeeze so many columns into a flexible-width layout. And isn't
> > that what media queries on width are for?
> 
> You are entering this branch of the algorithm *because* you can't get what
> you asked for. At this point, what is more important ? That the browser
> mindlessly
> aims to get as many columns as possible, even if it results in the vast
> majority
> of the multicol element being empty ? Or should it try to honor both the
> number of
> columns you want and respect your content - never mind the user's ability
> to
> consume it - before it respects intra-column space ?
[SZ] +1
> 
> There are many good reasons why the author may want to use media queries.
> But he
> shouldn't have to because multicol fallback in overconstrainted cases looks
> horrible
> by design.


Steve Zilles

Received on Friday, 11 February 2011 02:40:55 UTC