Re: Resolutions regarding fragments

On Wed, Feb 05, 2014 at 09:02:25AM +1300, Robert O'Callahan wrote:

> Okay, so the current situation is:
> -- 'element': straightforward

Note that a couple of things in CSS 2.1 (text nodes (first para of §9.2.2.1)
and to some extent pseudo-elements) are described as behaving as if they were
elements, which in practice tends to have the effect of redefining the word
"element" (to the extent that these things must be treated as if they were
elements).

However, I think the solution should be to avoid phrases like "as if" in
normative text, precisely because it leads to differing interpretations
depending on whether someone goes by the standard definition of ‘element’
(etc.) or whether they have this "as if" rule in mind.

(For example, this seems to be the cause of the differences in :first-line
behaviour among browsers; though in that case from "fictional" and
"might"/"could" rather than from "as if".  Another example is differences
between browsers in interpretation of the "behave as though" text for
counters not in the scope of a reset.)

pjrm.

Received on Thursday, 6 February 2014 03:41:36 UTC