[css4-ui] [selectors] new pseudo-elements for styling HTML forms was Re: [css3-ui] Review comments

On Wed, Jul 13, 2011 at 22:26, Boris Zbarsky <bzbarsky@mit.edu> wrote:
> On 7/14/11 1:19 AM, Anne van Kesteren wrote:
>>
>> On Thu, 14 Jul 2011 01:49:50 +0200, Tab Atkins Jr.
>> <jackalmage@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> * I recommend dropping the four pseudoclasses ::value, ::choices,
>>> ::repeat-item, and ::repeat-index. They are insufficient for styling
>>> modern form elements, and I don't think any major browser implements
>>> them.
>>
>> Maybe we should add the pseudo-elements browser vendors (in particular
>> WebKit) have added for styling HTML forms. Or maybe it is better to wait
>> for the shadow DOM...
>
> Doing that without specifying it as "do what WebKit does" is likely to get
> you into a specification rathole of sufficient dimensions that specifying
> shadow DOM may be simpler.

When someone implements a shadow DOM (for anything) and we can build
working examples on it, perhaps we can then evaluate how much
"simpler" a shadow DOM would be compared to alternatives.


> Specifically, for each pseudo-element you have to figure out what CSS
> properties do or do not apply and describe what they do, while keeping in
> mind that the actual structure of the form controls might be completely
> different in different UAs and that your specification probably shouldn't
> overconstrain it.

Which properties do/don't apply is something that an existing
implementation has likely already had to tackle so we can use that as
a starting point.

And regarding different UAs, I think looking at what WebKit does
across desktop/mobile/tablet platforms could be sufficient to describe
generic functionality - hard to tell without a specific pseudo-element
to discuss.


However, I agree with Boris that the referenced new pseudo-elements
are too risky to add to CSS3-UI at this time.


Anne (and everyone),

Feel free to add specific proposals (which pseudo-elements for styling
HTML forms you'd like to see along with which browser(s) implement
them) to the CSS4-UI wiki page:

http://wiki.csswg.org/spec/css4-ui#new-css4-ui-features

Thanks,

Tantek

-- 
http://tantek.com/ - I made an HTML5 tutorial! http://tantek.com/html5

Received on Thursday, 14 July 2011 17:48:34 UTC