Region precedence

I am a bit unhappy with the description of the "precedence" property on 
region-before, region-after, region-start and region-end.

7.24.15 says that if the precedence is 'false', that the "region does not 
extend to the page margins. This region has the same width or height as the 
body." This is about as plain English as one can get, and body has to mean 
region-body, correct? As there is no other "body" defined anywhere.

Further, 7.24.15 says this about a value of 'true': "A value of true 
specifies that this region takes precedence and extends across the full size 
of the page or view." Again, pretty straightforward.

Finally, the initial-value is stated to be 'false'.

So then we come to any or all of the descriptions of "precedence" in the 
various sections describing the above 4 outer regions (sections 6.4.14-17). 
The wording of all of these sections obfuscates, IMO, the _clear_ 
interpretation of what happens when precedence="false", as stated by
7.24.15. The wording suggests, rather, that even if precedence is 'false'
that a region would extend out to the margins, but that an adjacent region
with precedence of 'true' will effectively intrude into it, like a float.
Seems to me that if the precedence is 'false' that there is nothing to
intrude into, according to 7.24.15.

In particular, I would like to confirm that if _all_ precedences are false 
(that is, all are initial value, as might happen if the value was not 
explicitly specified) that we would expect to see the below:

 ______________________________________________
|           |    region-before    |            |
|           |_____________________|            |
|______      _____________________    _________|
|  r    |   |                     |  |    r    |
|  e    |   |                     |  |    e    |
|  g    |   |                     |  |    g    |
|  i    |   |                     |  |    i    |
|  o    |   |    region-body      |  |    o    |
|  n    |   |                     |  |    n    |
|  -    |   |                     |  |    -    |
|  s    |   |                     |  |    e    |
|  t    |   |                     |  |    n    |
|  a    |   |                     |  |    d    |
|  r    |   |                     |  |         |
|  t    |   |                     |  |         |
|_______|   |_____________________|  |_________|
|                                              |
|            _____________________             |
|           |                     |            |
|           |     region-after    |            |
|___________|_____________________|____________|

I get the strong feeling that many folks do not interpret things this way, 
although it is exactly what 7.24.15 says. Given the wording of the
region descriptions I am not surpised - it is convoluted. Thanks for any
input.

Regards,
Arved Sandstrom

Fairly Senior Software Type
e-plicity (http://www.e-plicity.com)
Wireless * B2B * J2EE * XML --- Halifax, Nova Scotia

Received on Thursday, 5 July 2001 12:57:20 UTC