[css2] Removed override and Fixed semantics of important

ianbjacobs · ianbjacobs · commit 679784029acd · 1998-03-14T23:30:05.000Z
--HG--
extra : convert_revision : svn%3A73dc7c4b-06e6-40f3-b4f7-9ed1dbc14bfc/trunk%401169
diff --git a/css2/cascade.src b/css2/cascade.src
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
 <html lang="en">
-<!-- $Id: cascade.src,v 2.11 1998-03-12 19:27:20 bbos Exp $ -->
+<!-- $Id: cascade.src,v 2.12 1998-03-14 23:30:05 ijacobs Exp $ -->
 <HEAD>
 <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
 <TITLE>Assigning property values, Cascading, and Inheritance</TITLE>
@@ -72,8 +72,12 @@ actual value is the computed value after any approximations have been
 applied.
 
 
-<P>Whenever an element inherits a value, it inherits an
-actual value.
+<P>In most cases, elements inherit actual values. However, there are
+some properties whose specified or calculated values may be inherited
+(e.g., a number value for the <span
+class="propinst-line-height">'line-height'</span> property). The
+definition of a property whose actual value is not what other elements
+inherit will clearly say so.
 
 <h3>Order of value calculation</h3>
 <P><em>This section is under construction</em>
@@ -279,8 +283,10 @@ must apply the following algorithm:</p>
       Sort the declarations by weight.
       <span class="index-def" title="important">"!important"</span>
       declarations in the user's style sheet have more weight than
-      all other declarations. <!-- or do !important declarations in
-      author and UA ss still have some effect? -->
+      all other declarations. 
+      <span class="index-def" title="important">"!important"</span>
+      declarations in the author's style sheets have more weight than
+      those in the UA's default style sheet.
 
     <LI>
       Sort by origin: the author's style sheets override the user's
@@ -314,48 +320,45 @@ the reader. It is therefore important that the User Agent gives the
 user the ability to turn off the influence of a certain style sheet,
 e.g., through a pull-down menu.
 
-<H3><a name="important-rules">!override and !important rules</a></H3>
+<H3><a name="important-rules">!important rules</a></H3>
 
 <P>CSS attempts to create a balance of power between author
-and user style sheets. Authors are given "extra power" in the
-cascade (see point 3 above) so that, by default, the author's
-stylistic intentions will prevail. However, CSS offers two mechanisms 
-that give more weight to user preferences: !important and !override
-declarations.
-
-<P>An "!important" declaration (the keywords "!" and "important"
-follow the declaration) takes precedence over a normal declaration.
-Both author and user style sheets may contain "!important" declarations,
-and author "!important" rules override user "!important" rules.
-
-<P>An "!override" declaration (the keywords "!" and "override" follow
-the declaration) takes precedence over an "!important" declaration.
-<em>Only</em> user style sheets may contain "!override" declarations,
-giving the user the final say in the cascade.
+and user style sheets. By default, rules in an author's style
+sheet override those in a user's style sheet (see cascade
+rule 3). 
+
+<P>However, for balance, an "!important" declaration (the keywords "!"
+and "important" follow the declaration) takes precedence over a normal
+declaration.  Both author and user style sheets may contain
+"!important" declarations, and user "!important" rules override author
+"!important" rules.
+
+<div class="note"><P>
+<em><strong>Note.</strong>
+This is a semantic change since CSS1. In CSS1, author "!important"
+rules took precedence over user "!important" rules. </em>
+</div>
 
 <P>Declaring a shorthand property (e.g., <span
-class="propinst-background">'background'</span>) to be "!important"
-(respectively, "!override") is equivalent to declaring all of its
-sub-properties to be "!important" (respectively, "!override").
+class="propinst-background">'background'</span>) to be "!important" is
+equivalent to declaring all of its sub-properties to be "!important".
 
 <div class="example"><P>
 The first rule of the user's style sheet in the following example
-contains two "!override" declarations. These user preferences will
-override all rules that have H1 as a <a
-href="selector.html#subject">subject</a>, namely the author's H1
-rule. For the P element, on the other hand, the <span
-class="propinst-font-size">'font-size'</span> will be '18pt' and the
-<span class="propinst-font-style">'font-style'</span> will be 'italic'
-since the author's "!important" rule takes precedence.</p>
+contains two "!important" declarations, which override
+the corresponding color and background properties in the
+author's style sheet even though the author has also specified
+"!important". The second rule of the user's style sheet will
+override the author's 'font-style' specification.</p>
 
 <PRE>
   /* From the user's style sheet */
-  H1 { color: black ! override; background: white ! override }
-  P  { font-size: 18pt ! important; font-style: normal ! important}
+  H1 { color: black ! important; background: white ! important }
+  P  { font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal ! important}
 
   /* From the author's style sheet */
   H1 { color: yellow ! important; background: blue ! important }
-  P  { font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic ! important }
+  P  { font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic }
 </PRE>
 </div>
 
