Re: <BR align=xxx>

Dave Raggett (dsr@hplb.hpl.hp.com)
Tue, 28 Feb 95 10:26:12 EST

Joe English writes:

>> As of the latest HTML 3.0 draft, you can do: <br align=xxx> to
>> affect the line/paragraph immediately before the <br>. Personally, I
>> think this is a little odd, but what the heck.

> I think this is a little odd, too...

> Is letting an element change the presentation
> of text that *precedes* it a good idea? Is
> it even a useful feature? Doesn't this go against
> the principles of structured markup? Won't it
> wreak havoc with DSSSL-Lite based implementations?

I don't understand what the fuss is about. View <BR> as a postfix
operator if you like. The semantics are clear enough. Can you explain
how it would "wreak havoc with DSSSL-Lite based implementations"?

To my understanding the browser can accumulate a line of text and then
format it. The alignment is easily added at this stage. The ability to
defer horizontal and vertical alignment in this way makes for a much
simpler implementation. Arena manages this without difficulty!

The alternative is to use the TAB element to specify alignment of subsequent
text as centered (on the tab) or right aligned.

-- Dave Raggett <dsr@w3.org> tel: +44 117 922 8046 fax: +44 117 922 8924
Hewlett Packard Laboratories, Filton Road, Bristol BS12 6QZ, United Kingdom