[thelist] why doth i hate css? let me count the ways.

Joshua Olson joshua at waetech.com
Thu Oct 9 19:18:49 CDT 2003


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris W. Parker" <cparker at swatgear.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2003 7:36 PM


> 1. Why is there 'font-family' and 'font-weight' but no 'font-color'?

There is, but it's just called "color"

> 2. With the following html:

> <input class="submit" type="submit" value="Submit"/>

> Why doesn't the following css do what it SHOULD do? How should it work
> you ask? Well it should push the button over to the far right of it's
> container. What happens instead? Nothing. And what happens if I use
> text-align: right;? THE WORD SUBMIT IS ALIGNED RIGHT!! aarggh!

> input.submit {
> align: right;
> }

Think of the button as a container.  The label, aka the "word", is text
within that container.  What you are looking for is called "float", which
aligns the container within the parent.

> 3. Why is it that when I specify 'width: 200px; padding: 5px;' on a
> <div> I end up with a box that is 210px wide and not 200px? (Technically
> I know why. I just think it's a really stupid way to make things work.)

Six one half dozen the other I suppose.  I prefer IE's box model in same
cases for this reason.  This is really only a problem when you are trying to
do stuff with percentages and ems as the units.  As a rule, don't apply
padding and margin to any elements that also have width specified and life
will become a lot easier.  Embed another container within that (but don't
specify width so it'll fill the whole container) and assign it a margin,
padding, whatever.

> 4. Why can't I easily and with one command center anything vertically?
> (The following code should work like I would expect it to. Not because
> I'm demanding or anything but because IT JUST MAKES SENSE!)

This part of css truly, truly, sucks.  I guess we'll have to deal for now.

> 5. And along the lines of #4, why can't I make a box stretch 100%
> vertically?

Again, I'm sure a better solution will come around.

<><><><><><><><><><>
Joshua Olson
Web Application Engineer
WAE Tech Inc.
http://www.waetech.com
706.210.0168



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