Re: float:center (was: Re: Alignment property proposal)

On Dec 27, 2007, at 5:27 AM, Anne van Kesteren wrote:

>
> On Wed, 26 Dec 2007 16:55:42 +0100, Brad Kemper  
> <brkemper@comcast.net> wrote:
>> float:center would also be darn useful.
>
> Every now and then someone suggests this and I tend to ignore those  
> e-mails as I've no idea how this would realistically work, but  
> asking is probably better so I get an understanding of what people  
> expect this feature to do.

Can't the effect they're looking for be had by merely centering the  
element with margin: whatever auto ? Or do they specifically want text  
to reflow around it?

What would happen if you float two elements, when floating both left,  
they just stack up against the side, but obviously two elements can't  
be in the center simultaneously. Would you center them at their common  
center then,  or does the second float: center'ed element wrap down  
below it?

How many uses of this would there realistically be? Are there any  
examples of such in typography at all?

It only makes sense if inline stuff reflows around it to appear on  
both sides, but even then I can't figure out what the effect should  
be. Do the two sides act as columns, and text wraps down the left, and  
then starts up at the right? It can't do that and make much sense, but  
then having each line skip something wide in the center and move to  
the other side doesn't work well either.

This sounds like something I think that I would have wanted before I  
learned CSS better.

John Oyler
john@discrevolt.com

Received on Thursday, 27 December 2007 16:00:21 UTC