Re: [css-inline] drop initial size nitpick

On Wed, Jul 30, 2014 at 8:02 PM, Alan Stearns <stearns@adobe.com> wrote:

> The formula for the drop initial size is correct, but it assumes that the
> drop initial and the rest of the text are using the same font. Drop
> initials are often set in a different font than the rest of the text, so
> it would be good to note that the first instance of cap-height in the
> formula is for the surrounding text, and the second instance of cap-height
> is for the drop initial itself.
>
> Also, my eyes tend to cross on formulas with a lot of single-letter
> variables. Instead of this:
>
> D = ((N-1) * L + c1*F)/c2
>
> I¹d rather read something like this:
>
> drop-cap-height =
>    ((N-1) * line-height + cap-para * font-size)
>    / cap-initial
>
>
> But that might just be me.
>

Sorry--ex-physicists are too fond of those single letters. At least they
weren't Greek! I've redone the equation, both to avoid the use of cryptic
variables, and to generalize to the (usual) case where the drop initial
font is different than the surrounding text font.

Now if only we could actually use W3C recommendations like MathML in W3C
specifications... :)

Dave