Stylesheets - Div position relative to in-line link?

Author

Div position relative to in-line link?

glutinous

2004-08-21, 4:33 am

I'm assuming that this is not possible (I haven't found a way), but if
there's one thing I know for sure, one shouldn't assume anything about
what people know how to do on this NG...

Enough creeping. :-)

Is it in fact possible to relatively position a division (on a
'higher' z-index) to correspond with an in-line 'a href' link (within
text in another, absolutely-positioned 'lower' division), so that the
topmost div maintains its position relative to the link no matter
whether the page is viewed in IE, Mozilla or Opera (etc.), or whatever
the font size may be set to in the browser?

URLs of info, pointers etc. gladly received.

Thanks.

glutinous

2004-08-21, 11:15 pm

On Tue, 17 Aug 2004 17:11:39 -0400, Neal <neal413@yahoo.com> wrote:

>On Tue, 17 Aug 2004 21:35:20 +0100, glutinous <glutinosity@yahoo.co.uk>
>wrote:
>
>
>No.
>
>The problem is that the inline link will fall wherever the line wrap puts
>it, and that cannot be predicted. Therefore, we have no way to "tell" the
>other div how to position itself.
>
>The basic effect could be achieved in a few ways, all of which present
>severe usability issues. Either you'd have to use a fixed width block of
>text so you can control where the link would appear, or use an image as
>text. But you don't want to do that. The design benefit is far outweighed
>by how much it screws up optimal usability.

Thank you for confirming this, and so quickly! I appreciate it...

Neal

2004-08-21, 11:15 pm

On Tue, 17 Aug 2004 21:35:20 +0100, glutinous <glutinosity@yahoo.co.uk>
wrote:

> I'm assuming that this is not possible (I haven't found a way), but if
> there's one thing I know for sure, one shouldn't assume anything about
> what people know how to do on this NG...
>
> Enough creeping. :-)
>
> Is it in fact possible to relatively position a division (on a
> 'higher' z-index) to correspond with an in-line 'a href' link (within
> text in another, absolutely-positioned 'lower' division), so that the
> topmost div maintains its position relative to the link no matter
> whether the page is viewed in IE, Mozilla or Opera (etc.), or whatever
> the font size may be set to in the browser?
>
> URLs of info, pointers etc. gladly received.
>
> Thanks.
>

No.

The problem is that the inline link will fall wherever the line wrap puts
it, and that cannot be predicted. Therefore, we have no way to "tell" the
other div how to position itself.

The basic effect could be achieved in a few ways, all of which present
severe usability issues. Either you'd have to use a fixed width block of
text so you can control where the link would appear, or use an image as
text. But you don't want to do that. The design benefit is far outweighed
by how much it screws up optimal usability.