Re: [media-queries] chicken-egg problem with font-based lengths

On 2012/08/20 10:21 (GMT-0700) Tab Atkins Jr. composed:

> If you think we would have defined the length units in such a stupid
> way if reality didn't force our hand, then I'm sorry you have such a
> poor conception of our abilities.

The spec made a choice to support a broken past at the expense of a sane 
future. Broken antiques should have been left to die the death they earned.

> There are desktop browsers today that are in the "2 device pixels per
> CSS px" realm.  (Well, laptop, but that's the same class.)

It's a matter of opinion whether a 23" desktop display is the same class as 
an 11" laptop or even a 15.4" Retina. Notwithstanding differences based on 
size alone, laptops as a group have short lives, and get replaced with newer. 
Desktop displays commonly stay in use for well over a decade.

> There are lots of browsers on mobile devices that have ratios other
> than 1:1.  Some are 2:1, but there are tons that have non-integer
> ratios.

Speaking of classes, the most common mobile devices are mere toys, usable 
only by the few who can use them without magnifying glasses and without wand 
tips small enough to click a tiny spot without clicking the eight that 
surround it at the same time. Catering to such devices should have minimal or 
no impact on how more useful or less limiting devices can or should work.

Any definition of pt that does not fall in the vicinity of 0.35 to 0.38 
physical mm is nuts. Even more crazy is a definition of mm that does not 
equal one physical mm. Logical units should have different names. Physical 
unit names should not have been hijacked by CSS to mean something else in the 
manner decimal prefixes were hijacked for binary multiples in the digital 
computing world.
-- 
"The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant
words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation)

  Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!

Felix Miata  ***  http://fm.no-ip.com/

Received on Monday, 20 August 2012 18:41:42 UTC