Skip to content

Commit 2cd2317

Browse files
committed
[css-scrollbars] Improve scope section
Requests for ::webkit-pseudos or something similar to them keep coming, suggesting we need more clarity. See w3c#2009 w3c#1969 w3c#2153
1 parent d90622d commit 2cd2317

File tree

1 file changed

+24
-20
lines changed

1 file changed

+24
-20
lines changed

css-scrollbars-1/Overview.bs

Lines changed: 24 additions & 20 deletions
Original file line numberDiff line numberDiff line change
@@ -29,9 +29,9 @@ and thickness ('scrollbar-width').
2929
<h3 id="scope">
3030
Scope</h3>
3131

32-
The CSS Scrollbars Module is specifically for styling scrollbar controls themselves,
33-
e.g. their color &amp; width in Level 1, and not their layout nor whether any content is scrollable.
34-
All layout impacts and content scrollability are specified in the
32+
The CSS Scrollbars Module is specifically for styling scrollbar controls themselves,
33+
e.g. their color &amp; width in Level 1, and not their layout nor whether any content is scrollable.
34+
All layout impacts and content scrollability are specified in the
3535
<a href="https://drafts.csswg.org/css-overflow/">CSS Overflow Module</a>.
3636

3737
Based on
@@ -40,28 +40,32 @@ there are three main use-cases around scrollbars this module intends to resolve:
4040
<ol>
4141
<li>Coloring scrollbars to fit better into the UI of a web application.
4242
<li>Using a thinner scrollbar when the scrolling area is small.
43-
<li>Building customized scrollbars without affecting scrollability.
43+
<li>Hiding UA-provided scrollbars,
44+
to allow the provision of custom interfaces for scrolling
45+
without affecting other aspects of scrollability.
4446
</ol>
4547

46-
For addressing these use-cases, this module adds properties to control the colors and
47-
width of scrollbars (if any) of an element.
48-
4948
<h4 id="out-of-scope">
5049
Out Of Scope</h4>
51-
Layout of scrollbars and related or adjacent content, and whether content is scrollable, is out of scope.
52-
Those features are specified in the
53-
<a href="https://drafts.csswg.org/css-overflow/">CSS Overflow Module</a>.
5450

55-
Pseudo-elements for selecting specific parts of a scrollbar are out of scope.
56-
The WebKit implementation of pseudo-elements for scrollbar is
57-
considered to be a feature mistakenly exposed to the web.
58-
Main concerns against the pseudo-elements approach are:
59-
<ul>
60-
<li>Operating systems continuously evolve their scrollbar designs to provide better user experience,
61-
beyond the ability of any set of pseudo-elements to accurately model this over time.
62-
<li>Different platforms have different scrollbar structure means testing interop is harder,
63-
because authors would need to take not only engine but also platforms into account.
64-
</ul>
51+
The internal structure, layout, and configuration of scrollbars,
52+
as well as precise control over their coloring, is out of scope.
53+
This is because different platforms have
54+
different scrollbar structures and styling conventions,
55+
and operating systems continuously evolve their scrollbar designs
56+
to provide better user experience.
57+
Pseudo-elements for selecting specific parts of a scrollbar,
58+
for example,
59+
were considered and rejected.
60+
While this level of fine control would be tempting for authors,
61+
the arrangement of the various parts--
62+
or whether they're even all present--
63+
cannot be depended on.
64+
Providing too much control would allow authors to get perfect results on some platforms,
65+
but at the expense of broken results on others.
66+
67+
Note: Exposing the scrollbar-related <code>::-webkit-</code> prefixed pseudo-elements to the Web
68+
is considered a mistake by both the CSS Working Group and Webkit.
6569

6670
<h3 id="values">
6771
Value Definitions</h3>

0 commit comments

Comments
 (0)