Re: [css-line-grid] inline grid / character grid

> On Feb 4, 2016, at 07:26, Myles C. Maxfield <mmaxfield@apple.com> wrote:
> 
> Spec’ing character grid is very valuable for the web!

Thanks for the enthusiasm and the feedback.

> I have a couple of comments:
> 1. I think this is already understood in your proposal, but it’s worth nothing that such an inline-snap property should not be able to be specified on inline elements. I’m not aware of any use case where this would be valuable.

I don't know of such use cases either, so I agree. If someone has use cases, I'd like to hear about it, but otherwise I'm with you.

> 2. I understand your argument for only adjusting the line boxes’ start and end positions; however, browsers should be free to go beyond this. Browsers should be able to use “line-edges” as a signal to perform the best character-grid layout they are capable of. This possibility should be mentioned in the spec, but the exact snapping algorithm should not be spec’ed (at least in level 1).

I'm afraid I disagree here. A "full character grid" is a desirable feature as well, and it can be built as an extension to the line-edge snapping, but it is not appropriate for the UA to use one instead of the other.

To the extend that all characters are monospaced full-width CJK characters, both approaches give the exact same result, but if not, which result is desired is not a quality of implementation question. Different countries (and different contexts) call for one or the other. For instance, using a full character gird instead of line-edge snapping + justification would be wrong for most Japanese texts.

I do want to specify the full grid as well (and based on discussions with Xidorn from Mozilla at the Sydney F2F, I think I know how to spec it, including the algo), but I thought I'd leave this for level 2.

However, if there is implementation interest, I am happy to fast track it and write it down sooner rather than later.

 - Florian

Received on Thursday, 4 February 2016 15:31:54 UTC