Re: User Agents Do Not Implement Absolute Length Units, Places Responsive Design in Jeopardy

This was discussed to death last year, when hardly anyone was
convinced that absolute units were useful. Now we have a compelling
(and important) use case and it’s too late.

If you don’t implement it, of course no one will use it.

2011/10/5 Brian Blakely <anewpage.media@gmail.com>:
> See spec for a refresh: http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-values/#absolute-lengths
> As far as I know, UAs have never actually implemented this, but always
> pretended to anyway.  If you size something as "1in", you're more than
> likely going to get 90px, regardless of the accuracy of this output.
> This is important because physical screen dimensions are going to become
> very crucial in the near-term for content and layout delivery, especially in
> regards to Media Queries.
> The problem which was years away is now an impending reality: the day when
> 720p+ mobile devices become the norm.  Unless these devices are all
> pixel-doubling and -quadrupling without exception, using Media Queries for
> the most common responsive design practice — horizontal resolution detection
> in pixels — won't work anymore.  They will simply cease to be a solution,
> leaving no replacement.
> We need a new way to do generic device detection, or we need absolute length
> units to work.
> Anyone from representative groups (Mozilla, Chrome Team, Apple) want to
> comment?  Does the spec need to be changed?
> Best,
> -Brian



-- 
cheers,
-ambrose

Received on Wednesday, 5 October 2011 15:53:51 UTC