[css-grid] row-gap/column-gap issues

We've gotten a fair amount of feedback that authors would find Grid Layout
easier to use and generally less confusing if we added row-gap and column-gap
properties to automatically create gutters.

   * It makes track definitions easier to read and write, by eliminating
     repetitive "noise".
   * It makes repeat() significantly less awkward to use (since we don't
     have the trailing-joiner problem).
   * It handles gutters for implicit tracks, which is currently not possible.
   * It eliminates the problem of auto-placement putting items into tracks
     meant to provide gutters.

Happily the CSS Grid editors have been in agreement that we should do this,
and as Simon Sapin once pointed out, there's even a CSSWG resolution on the
books for this, that Tab and I keep not getting around to editing in:
   https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-style/2013Dec/0121.html
(We're always like, that's easy, we'll do it later. And then later never
happens...)

So with some prompting from Rachel Andrews I finally did that today. :)

Except, as per usual, I ran into some issues.

http://dev.w3.org/csswg/css-grid-1/#gutters

   Issue 1: Should 'normal' (the initial value of 'row-gap') compute to '0'?

     I say yes, since this would be simpler for authors. Other opinions welcome.

   Issue 2: Should we have a shorthand? What should it be called?
            ('border-spacing' is unavailable because it inherits)

     Please go ahead and bikeshed this one...

   Issue 3: Should the 'grid' shorthand reset the gap properties?

     I say yes, because we want shorthands to give a "blank slate" for related
     properties, and resetting the grid should probably also reset the gutters.

Comments welcome~

~fantasai

Received on Tuesday, 16 June 2015 01:44:45 UTC