reverse nested selectors

I'd like so suggest that an operator to reverse the matching order of  
selectors could be a very useful thing.

Ex:
<div class="ColorBackground>
	<img class="AlphaImage">
</div>

If one wanted to select any <div> that contained an image with class  
"AlphaImage", there is no way to do so.
this situation (for me at the moment) is complicated by  
"ColorBackground" being any of eight values, but I would like each of  
those div classes to share common attributes.

the selector:

div img.thumb { }

will select the img tag for modification under current rules. There is  
no way to universally select that div under CSS2.

I think an operator such as a leading "!"(exclamation mark) or "<"(less  
than) should reverse the matching order such that the selector above  
would match the most outside element instead of the most inner one.

Ex:
	! div img.thumb { }

Placing the modifier at the start of the line seems the best choice to  
me as the intent is clear from outset. I would suggest that this work  
for all selector types, not just the simple inheritance  case  
demonstrated.

I write this because in the case I just wanted to use it for it would  
save significant markup in the style sheet and be easier to read and  
maintain than the alternatives. I was actually rather shocked that I  
could not locate an existing mechanism to simply select a parent  
instead of a child. With such a selector my page could perhaps be

Specifically in this case, I want to use the enclosing div's background  
color setting to for the color behind a PNG image file with alpha  
channel. There will be several colors available, and it would be  
simpler to set all the other common attributes of the div via such a  
selector than to set them all discreetly or by grouping. I'm certain  
there are other more blase cases for such an operator, especially in  
dynamically generated content.


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Received on Sunday, 13 June 2004 03:23:37 UTC