Re: [css4-color] HLC <= CIE-La*b*

On 21/11/11 09:53, Tab Atkins Jr. wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 6:06 AM, Kevin Bortis<kevin@bortis.ch>  wrote:
>
>>>> em { color: aliceblue 1 }    /* aliceblue = #F0F8FF, alpha 1 */
>>> That’s unnecessary and not backwards compatible.
>> Most browsers are ignoring the "1". The inclusion of rgb() and rgba()
>> in the current CSS spec is a mistake in my eyes. First you define a
>> color and then tell the browser to add transparency to it. Defining
>> two function for every possible color definition is not a very good
>> solution ( rgb(), rgba(), hsl(), hsla()....).
> Browsers don't "ignore the 1" - they drop the declaration entirely,
> because it's currently a syntax error.
>
> Using a second function ending in an "a" is established practice and
> seems okay to me.  It doesn't seem to be a a huge win to just pull the
> alpha out of the function and put it next to the color instead, and
> there are compat problems, as I explain below.
>
>> Why should it be impossible to add the possibility for such color
>> definitions as: { color: aliceblue 0.5 } in the level 4 color module?
> It's not impossible, but I already know of one place where it's
> ambiguous -<color-stop>  definitions in gradients are defined as
> "<color>  &&  [<length>  |<percentage>]?".  If<color>  is changed to be
> an opaque color + a number, then the color-stop "red 0" is ambiguous -
> is it fully-transparent red with an auto location, or is it
> fully-opaque red located at 0?  If<color>  also allows percentages,
> then any position specified in percentages is ambiguous.
>
> In general, it's best for core value types to be single tokens for this reason.
>
> ~TJ
>
This could be rectified by using a more human-readable syntax like for 
example "80% of aliceblue".

Color stops would then become unambiguous, although still hard to read, 
like:
     linear-gradient(50% of black 10%, 90% of white 80%)

However I'd argue that this is also hard to read, if not harder:
     linear-gradient(rgba(0,0,0,.5) 10%, rgba(255,255,255,.9) 80%)

As an author, I'd welcome such a change. I can't even begin to count how 
many times I had to convert a hex color or a keyword to RGB/HSL to be 
able to apply transparency to it. Not all color notations are functional 
to get a second function ending in "a".
Obviously, such a change would also instantly solve all previous debates 
around #RRGGBBAA and #RGBA (I don't remember if consensus was reached on 
that one).

-- 
Lea Verou (http://lea.verou.me | @LeaVerou)

Received on Monday, 21 November 2011 20:24:59 UTC