Re: Beta-test new site design, was: Status of the "new" GNUstep website?

[Scott Stevenson]

On Jan 11, 2004, at 5:08 AM, MJ Ray wrote:


> It's a list (well, two at the moment) and not tabulated information. 
> It should be marked as a list rather than a table.

My feeling is that you should stick to the standards -- and within that 
context, use markup that reflects the content whenever practical. I'm 
really the world's biggest 'clean markup + CSS' advocate, but I think 
this is one of those edge cases where ul is causing more problems than 
it solves, in which case I think a simple table makes more sense.

That's just my opinion. We're truly splitting hairs here, so I don't 
think it's a big deal.


> > > It doesn't look right in some common browsers and is a bit nasty for 
> > > unusual browsers (like talking ones).
> > Which common browsers is it causing problems for?
> Netscape, at least, which seems surprisingly common among our users.

I realize there are some problems with Netscape in general, but does 
this apply to that particular 'getting started' table? It's very simple 
-- even NS4 shouldn't have a problem.


> Maybe I should use one ul and put two floatleft divs inside it?

I don't think this is really the intended use of ul, but again -- if it 
works, so be it.


> I think 1 point should be roughly 1/72in on all displays. If it isn't, 
> the display is misconfigured.

That's the way things "should" be, but it's just not the reality. It 
even varies from browser to browser on the same OS. It's not a critical 
issue, just can cause some unappealing font sizes to manifest.


> Ask your browser to display a 72pt pipe symbol (<p style="font-size: 
> 72pt">|</p>). Get a ruler and measure it. Is it 1 inch long? If not, 
> that's wrong.

This isn't a useful test because high density displays (certain 
laptops) will nullify the results. Pixels as a unit gives you the 
system's font size representation, rather than the browser's 
interpretation of it.

It's a great big mess, and has been a source of endless frustration in 
the CSS community.


Best Regards,

    - Scott

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