[CSS21] Issue 192 - floats and shortened line boxes

 From the f2f minutes[1]:

> <glazou> http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-style/2009Oct/0027.html
>   dbaron: Anton's proposal for issue 1 looks fine.
>   dbaron: I don't think we want to make the second change.
>   dsinger: I think the "further" lacks a referent.
>   <fantasai> dbaron proposes s/further content/content after the float/
>   <fantasai> and s/it/that content/
>   TabAtkins: And the third issue is invalid - Bert gave an example where
>              the content may have to be reflowed onto multiple lines.
>   RESOLVED: Accept change for first issue, accept dbarons' change for
>             the second issue, third issue is invalid.

I don't believe the third issue to be invalid, and I went into rather a 
lot of detail in a later post[2] in the cited thread, in addition to 
responding[3,4] to the purported counter-example that Bert raised[5]. If 
Bert has a counter-example that he has not posted to the list, please 
could he do so.

[[
Note that there were a couple of typos in [2] (which did not affect my 
argument).  I should have written the following:

   : 1.) Always move the float downwards to the bottom of the line box in
   : which its placeholder sits, when <del>no non-empty</del> <ins>some
   : non-trivial</ins> inline-level box precedes the placeholder on that
   : line box.  (Prior inline-level content is never reflowed, and the
   : float is always below all prior content.)

   : 3.) Once its width as a float has been computed, move the float
   : downwards only if the line box in which its placeholder sits is
   : already a shortened line box and if this computed width exceeds the
   : width of the line box, irrespective of whether there is prior
   : inline content in the line box. (Keep the float on the same line if
   : at all possible.  Prior content may need to be reflowed into one
   : more new line boxes, and the float may be above – but never below –
   : its placeholder <ins>unless the float moves downwards</ins>.)
]]


I also disagree with dbaron's change for issue 2, since the sentence in 
the spec is talking about moving line boxes (ie creating a gap between 
line boxes) not about flowing content (which is adequately handled by 
the preceding sentence in the spec), as David himself noted in [6].  In 
any case, the suggested phrase "content after the float" is ambiguous: 
it wants to refer to content after the float's placeholder, but can 
easily be misinterpreted as content prior to the placeholder which has 
moved to the other side of the float.

Also, as I've pointed out before, 9.4.2 (Inline Formatting Context) 
incorrectly says "Line boxes are stacked with no vertical separation" so 
that needs editing too.


(Incidentally, over the last few months I've noticed a significant bug 
in the mail archives: the "Next in thread" functionality breaks (no next 
message indicated) when there's a next message that was sent in a later 
month(?) than the message currently being viewed.  This causes quite a 
bit of difficulty since follow-ups are often orphaned and hence missed 
when revisiting a conversation.  I've been meaning to contact the 
maintainer for a while now.)

[1] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-style/2010Sep/0001.html
[2] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-style/2010Aug/0181.html
[3] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-style/2009Oct/0055.html
[4] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-style/2009Oct/0057.html
[5] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-style/2009Oct/0050.html
[6] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-style/2010Aug/0074.html

Cheers,
Anton Prowse
http://dev.moonhenge.net

Received on Wednesday, 1 September 2010 19:22:06 UTC