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Author Question: Shorthand" CSS code?
Dave

2004-08-22, 7:17 pm

Occasionally, I've seen people write CSS code in shorthand for specifying
font styles. I don't exactly remember how it goes, but sometimes I see
things like this:

SPAN {font: arial, helvetica 11 bold}...

I think this is a great idea, and I'd like to do some fine tuning of my own
code. Does anybody know where I can get an explanation of how this coding
strategy works? What about for multiple font names?

Any information is appreciated. Thanks!

--
============================
- Dave
http://members.cox.net/grundage/


David Dorward

2004-08-22, 7:17 pm

Dave wrote:

> Occasionally, I've seen people write CSS code in shorthand for specifying
> font styles. I don't exactly remember how it goes


So rtfm: http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/fonts.html#font-shorthand

> SPAN {font: arial, helvetica 11 bold}...


11 what? A unit is required, but no unit that could go there could be a good
choice.

> I think this is a great idea


It isn't that great - it means you have to remember things such as which
properties must be specified when you use the shorthand. It makes it easier
to introduce errors and harder to maintain.


--
David Dorward <http://blog.dorward.me.uk/> <http://dorward.me.uk/>
Home is where the ~/.bashrc is
Neal

2004-08-22, 7:17 pm

On Sun, 22 Aug 2004 11:40:22 -0500, Dave <dave@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Occasionally, I've seen people write CSS code in shorthand for specifying
> font styles. I don't exactly remember how it goes, but sometimes I see
> things like this:
>
> SPAN {font: arial, helvetica 11 bold}...
>
> I think this is a great idea, and I'd like to do some fine tuning of my
> own
> code. Does anybody know where I can get an explanation of how this coding
> strategy works? What about for multiple font names?
>
> Any information is appreciated. Thanks!
>



See http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/propidx.html for all CSS2 properties. You'll
find a number of shorthand possibilities, including font.

However, your above rule is flawed. Font-family comes last, and 11 has no
unit. It's not required, but advisable, to end your font family with a
generic.

span {font: bold 110% Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif}

Is it better? If you use the font shorthand all 5 the font-weight,
font-style, font-size and font-family are reset to their normal values
before the changes you make are set. So if you don't state all of these
values, you might expect a font-weight: bold to be inherited but it won't
be.

Like all shorthand styles, there are times it's the right tool for the
job, and times it's not.
Dave

2004-08-22, 7:17 pm

Wouldn't the Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif be surrounded in quotes?

--
============================
- Dave
http://members.cox.net/grundage/
"Neal" <neal413@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:opsc5awty06v6656@news.individual.net...
> On Sun, 22 Aug 2004 11:40:22 -0500, Dave <dave@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
specifying[color=darkred]
coding[color=darkred]
>
>
> See http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/propidx.html for all CSS2 properties. You'll
> find a number of shorthand possibilities, including font.
>
> However, your above rule is flawed. Font-family comes last, and 11 has no
> unit. It's not required, but advisable, to end your font family with a
> generic.
>
> span {font: bold 110% Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif}
>
> Is it better? If you use the font shorthand all 5 the font-weight,
> font-style, font-size and font-family are reset to their normal values
> before the changes you make are set. So if you don't state all of these
> values, you might expect a font-weight: bold to be inherited but it won't
> be.
>
> Like all shorthand styles, there are times it's the right tool for the
> job, and times it's not.



Jukka K. Korpela

2004-08-22, 7:17 pm

"Dave" <dave@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Wouldn't the Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif be surrounded in quotes?


Maybe in your code. But your posting style (upside-down fullquoting, and
a few other signals) suggests that you are not looking for constructive
comments. Anyway, here's one: quoting Sans-Serif would make sense only if
there were a font with the proper name "Sans-Serif". Of course, anyone
and his brother could design such a font (though hopefully couldn't
trademark it), but they haven't, so far.

--
Yucca, http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/
David Dorward

2004-08-22, 7:17 pm

Dave wrote:

Please direct your attention to http://www.allmyfaqs.com/faq.pl?How_to_post

> Wouldn't the Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif be surrounded in quotes?


No... as it says under font-family in the spec (which I referenced in my
last contribution to this thread).

--
David Dorward <http://blog.dorward.me.uk/> <http://dorward.me.uk/>
Home is where the ~/.bashrc is
Neal

2004-08-22, 7:17 pm

On Sun, 22 Aug 2004 13:39:06 -0500, Dave <dave@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Wouldn't the Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif be surrounded in quotes?
>



Please don't reply on top, and especially don't put quoted material in the
signature (under the --).

Quotes are only used to surround font names with spaces like "Times New
Roman" or "Arial BT". And by the way, I don't know for sure whether
Sans-Serif is incorrect, but the "proper" form is sans-serif. Remember,
it's not a name of a font. It's a generic font that cues the UA to use
whatever is the generic sans-serif font to render the text. For most UAs
this is Arial or Helvetica anyway, but it could be anything.
Harlan Messinger

2004-08-23, 7:19 pm

"Dave" <dave@yahoo.com> wrote:

>Wouldn't the Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif be surrounded in quotes?


Only if "Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif" is the name of a single font
family.

--
Harlan Messinger
Remove the first dot from my e-mail address.
Veuillez ๔ter le premier point de mon adresse de courriel.
Neal

2004-08-26, 12:28 pm

On Sun, 22 Aug 2004 13:39:06 -0500, Dave <dave@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Wouldn't the Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif be surrounded in quotes?
>



Please don't reply on top, and especially don't put quoted material in the
signature (under the --).

Quotes are only used to surround font names with spaces like "Times New
Roman" or "Arial BT". And by the way, I don't know for sure whether
Sans-Serif is incorrect, but the "proper" form is sans-serif. Remember,
it's not a name of a font. It's a generic font that cues the UA to use
whatever is the generic sans-serif font to render the text. For most UAs
this is Arial or Helvetica anyway, but it could be anything.
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