[webkit-dev] Ruby design document

[David Hyatt]

On Jun 3, 2009, at 7:33 PM, David Hyatt wrote:

>
> The CSS3 draft is clearly very incomplete and not ready for  
> primetime, so the more I look at it, the more I'm thinking we should  
> maybe just limit ourselves to an HTML5/IE-compatible implementation.
>
>

In other words I'm thinking we should just make <ruby> the only way  
you can make these things, and not necessarily support the CSS stuff  
yet.  I am concerned about crashes related to crazy interactions of  
all these new ruby display types (every time we add new display types  
the render tree complexity goes up, since any element can implement  
the display type and be put inside any other display type).

For example, I don't even think display:ruby should be the right way  
to make a ruby in CSS, since a ruby clearly can be either block-level  
or inline-level.  You need two display types and not just one.

How the ruby box model works in CSS is woefully underspecified as well.

For now we could just hardcode the creation of the specific renderers  
when the tag names are encountered.  This has the added benefit of  
allowing you to make a ruby inline or block by changing the display  
type.  I'd suggest testing in IE in fact to see what happens when you  
float/position a ruby or when you specifically put "display:block" on  
a ruby.

dave
(hyatt at apple.com)