Re: [css3-images] Making gradients readable

On 11/01/2011 03:33 PM, L. David Baron wrote:
> On Sunday 2011-10-30 22:25 -0700, fantasai wrote:
>> So I propose for radial-gradient() is to use keywords to denote the various types of
>> arguments, thus:
>>
>>    radial-gradient(from center as red, orange, yellow)
>>
>>    radial-gradient(from top left as red, orange, yellow)
>>
>>    radial-gradient(circle from 25% 17% as red, orange, yellow)
>>
>>    radial-gradient(3em 5em from 1em 2em as red, orange, yellow)
>>
>> Generically, the proposed syntax is:
>>
>>    radial-gradient(<shape-info>
>>                     from<position>
>>                     as<color-stop>  [,<color-stop>]+ )
>
> So there's one thing I don't like about this and another that I
> think could be improved.
>
> The thing I don't like is that, in general, I don't like something
> that looks like this:
>
>    function(foo bar as a, b, c)
>
> because I think when you have commas inside of functions, it's
> natural to split it like this (because many languages separate
> things inside functional syntax with commas):
>
>     foo bar as a
>     b
>     c
>
> rather than splitting it as:
>     foo bar
>     a, b, c
>
> I thus prefer replacing the "as" with a ",".
>
>
> Second, I think the<shape-info>  really has two parts -- there's a
> shape and a size (or extents).  I wonder if this could be recast as:
>
>    radial-gradient(<shape>?
>                     from<position>
>                     to<extents>
>                     [,<color-stop>] + )
>
> Where:
>
>   <shape>  is ellipse or circle, and defaults to ellipse
>
>   <position>  is as you describe it
>
>   <extents>  is:
>     closest-corner
>     closest-side
>     farthest-corner
>     farthest-side
>     or an explicit size (one number for a circle, two for an ellipse)
>
> I could see the 'from' keyword also being 'at'.
>
> (The 'from'-part and the 'to'-part seem like they could be reversed
> if desired.)

I think this is a good proposal, too. Wrt 'from' vs 'at', I think we
might want to think about what the syntax for offset radial gradients
would look like. I think 'from' gives a strong sense of the colors
moving away from that point, so I'd use it for the focus of the
gradient rather than the center of the ellipse. I'm not sure what you'd
use to define the center of the ellipse -- you want to express the
concept of "centered at".

~fantasai

Received on Friday, 4 November 2011 09:07:28 UTC