[css21][css-position] Better name for "pseudo-stacking context"

While trying to edit today's telcon decision into Flexbox, we realized
that "pseudo-stacking context" isn't actually defined anywhere.  We
then noted it was a terrible name for the concept.  (The concept of
"pseudo-stacking context" is captured by the diagram at
<http://wiki.csswg.org/topics/flex-item-painting> by the three green
layers labelled "stacking container".)

After some brainstorming between us and some coworkers, we've come up
with these suggestions:

1. Rename "stacking context" to "z-layer container".  The current term
"stacking context" isn't very clear - invoking "stacking" doesn't
suggest what is being stacked in any way.  The new name uses "layer",
which *is* a term used more often by normal people when talking about
these concepts, and it includes a reference to "z", because it
traps/orders things using "z-index".

2. Rename "pseudo-stacking context" to "flow-layer container".  It
only contains flow-level stuff (blocks, floats, inlines), so this
seems appropriate, and has nice parallel structure to the "z-layer
container" term.

The spec should still define "stacking context" as a synonym for
"z-layer container", so references into the spec still make sense.

Thoughts?

~TJ and fantasai

Received on Wednesday, 3 April 2013 20:29:39 UTC