W3C

Errata in _THE_ID_

This document:
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Last revised:
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This document records known errors in the document:
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The latest version of the CSS 2 specification:
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Please email error reports to css2-editors@w3.org.

Known Errors

Shorthand properties

Shorthand properties take a list of subproperty values or the value 'inherit'. One cannot mix 'inherit' with other subproperty values as it would not be possible to specify the subproperty to which 'inherit' applied. The definitions of a number of shorthand properties do not enforce this rule: 'border-top', 'border-right', 'border-bottom', 'border-left', 'border', 'background', 'font', 'list-style', 'cue', and 'outline'.

Section 8.4 Padding properties

The five properties related to padding ('padding', 'padding-top', 'padding-right', 'padding-bottom', and 'padding-left') should say that they don't apply to table rows, row groups, header groups, footer groups, columns, and column groups.

For a row group

Section 4.1.1 (and D2)

4.1.3 Characters and case

In the third bullet, add to point 1.:

1.with a space (or other whitespace character): "\26 B" ("&B")

the following text: "In this case, user agents should treat a "CR/LF" pair (13/10) as a single whitespace character."

Section 4.3 (Double sign problem)

Several values described in subsections of this section incorrectly allow two "+" or "-" signs at their beginnings. Lengths, for instance, are described as follows:

The format of a length value (denoted by <length> in this specification) is an optional sign character ('+' or '-', with '+' being the default) immediately followed by a <number> (with or without a decimal point) immediately followed by a unit identifier (e.g., px, deg, etc.).

However, since <number> already allows a "+" or "-" sign, the above definition means two signs may appear. The following value types allow two signs but are meant to allow one initial sign only:

Section 4.3.6

Delete the comments about range restriction after the following examples:

EM { color: rgb(255,0,0) }      
EM { color: rgb(100%, 0%, 0%) } 

5.10 Pseudo-elements and pseudo-classes

In the second bullet, the following sentence is incomplete: "The exception is ':first-child', which can be deduced from the document tree." The ':lang()' pseudo-class can be deduced from the document in some cases.

8.2 Example of margins, padding, and borders

The colors in the example HTML do not match the colors in the image.

8.5.4 Border shorthand properties: 'border-top', 'border-bottom', 'border-right', 'border-left', and 'border'

Change <'border-top-width'> to <border-width> as the first value option for 'border-top', 'border-right', 'border-bottom', and 'border-left', and change <'border-style'> to <border-style>. For 'border', change <'border-width'> to <border-width> and <'border-style'> to <border-style>.

Section 9.3.1

The definition of the value 'static' should say that the properties 'top', 'right', 'bottom', and 'left' do not apply.

Section 9.3.2

The properties 'top', 'right', 'bottom', and 'left', incorrectly refer to offsets with respect to a box's content edge. The proper edge is the margin edge. Thus, for 'top', the description should read, "This property specifies how far a box's top margin edge is offset below the top edge of the box's containing block."

Section 9.4.3

In the first sentence, add to the end of "Once a box has been laid out according to the normal flow" the words "or floated,".

Section 10.3.2 Inline, replaced elements (and 10.3.4, 10.3.6, and 10.3.8)

Change:

A specified value of 'auto' for 'width' gives the element's intrinsic width as the computed value.

to:

If 'width' has a specified value of 'auto' and 'height' also has a specified value of 'auto', the element's intrinsic width is the computed value of 'width'. If 'width' has a specified value of 'auto' and 'height' has some other specified value, then the computed value of 'width' is (intrinsic width) * ( (computed height) / (intrinsic height) ).

Section 10.3.3

In the last sentence of the paragraph following the equation -- "If the value of 'direction' is 'ltr', this happens to 'margin-left' instead." -- substitute 'rtl' for 'ltr'.

Section 10.6.2 Inline, replaced elements ... (and 10.6.5)

Change:

If 'height' is 'auto', the computed value is the intrinsic height.

to:

If 'height' has a specified value of 'auto' and 'width' also has a specified value of 'auto', the element's intrinsic height is the computed value of 'height'. If 'height' has a specified value of 'auto' and 'width' has some other specified value, then the computed value of 'height' is (intrinsic height) * ( (computed width) / (intrinsic width) ).

Section 10.6.3

The height calculation for block-level, non-replaced elements in normal flow, and floating, non-replaced elements is not quite correct. The height calculation should read as follows:

If 'top', 'bottom', 'margin-top', or 'margin-bottom' are 'auto', their computed value is 0. If 'height' is 'auto', the height depends on whether the element has any block-level children and whether it has padding or borders.

If it only has inline-level children, the height is the distance between the top of the topmost line box and the bottom of the bottommost line box.

If it has block-level children, the height is the distance between the top border-edge of the topmost block-level child box and the bottom border-edge of the bottommost block-level child box. However, if the element has a non-zero top padding and/or top border, then the content starts at the top margin edge of the topmost child. Similarly, if the element has a non-zero bottom padding and/or bottom border, then the content ends at the bottom margin edge of the bottommost child.

Only children in the normal flow are taken into account (i.e., floating boxes and absolutely positioned boxes are ignored, and relatively positioned boxes are considered without their offset). Note that the child box may be an anonymous box.

Section 11.1.1

The example of a DIV element containing a BLOCKQUOTE containing another DIV is not rendered correctly. The first rule:

DIV { width : 100px; height: 100px;
      border: thin solid red;
      }

Applies to both the external and internal DIV, so, for example, the internal DIV box should be rendered with a red border. The intention of the authors was that the first style rule only apply to the external DIV. This could be accomplished by making it more specific by adding a "class" or "id" value to the markup and changing the selectors accordingly.

12.2 The 'content' property

The 'content' property applies to 'display : marker' elements and both :before and :after pseudo-elements.

Section 15.2.4

Under the 'font-size-adjust' property, in the formula given for <number>, the variables y, a', and c are explained. An explanation for the variable "a" is missing and should read:

 
     a = aspect value of first-choice font

In the sentence beginning "In bicameral scripts..." change "(font size divided by x-height)" to "(x-height divided by font size)".

Section 15.2.6

'Totum' and 'Kodic' is not a 'serif' but 'sans-serif'. 'pathang' is not a 'sans-serif' but 'serif'.

Section 15.5

In bullet 2, change "the UA uses the 'font-family' descriptor" to "the UA uses the 'font-family' property".

In bullet 6, change "steps 3, 4 and 5" to "steps 2, 3, 4 and 5".

17.2 The CSS table model

In the definition of table-header-group, change "footer" to "header" in "Print user agents may repeat footer rows on each page spanned by a table."

17.2.1 Anonymous table objects

Move the first bullet text to the prose before the list of generation rules. The rules should then be the following:

  1. If the parent P of a 'table-cell' element T is not a 'table-row', an object corresponding to a 'table-row' will be generated between P and T. This object will span all consecutive 'table-cell' siblings (in the document tree) of T.
  2. If the parent P of a 'table-row' element T is not a 'table', 'inline-table', or 'table-row-group' element, an object corresponding to a 'table' element will be generated between P and T. This object will span all consecutive siblings (in the document tree) of T that require a 'table' parent: 'table-row', 'table-row-group', 'table-header-group', 'table-footer-group', 'table-column', 'table-column-group', and 'table-caption'.
  3. If the parent P of a 'table-column' element T is not a 'table', 'inline-table', or 'table-column-group' element, an object corresponding to a 'table' element will be generated between P and T. This object will span all consecutive siblings (in the document tree) of T that require a 'table' parent: 'table-row', 'table-row-group', 'table-header-group', 'table-footer-group', 'table-column', 'table-column-group', and 'table-caption'.
  4. If the parent P of a 'table-row-group' (or 'table-header-group', 'table-footer-group', or 'table-column-group') element T is not a 'table' or 'inline-table', an object corresponding to a 'table' element will be generated between P and T. This object will span all consecutive siblings (in the document tree) of T that require a 'table' parent: 'table-row', 'table-row-group', 'table-header-group', 'table-footer-group', 'table-column', 'table-column-group', and 'table-caption'.
  5. If a child T of a 'table' element (or 'inline-table') P is not a 'table-row-group', 'table-header-group', 'table-footer-group', or 'table-row' element, an object corresponding to a 'table-row' element will be generated between P and T. This object spans all consecutive siblings of T that are not 'table-row-group', 'table-header-group', 'table-footer-group', or 'table-row' elements.
  6. If a child T of a 'table-row-group' element (or 'table-header-group' or 'table-footer-group') P is not a 'table-row' element, an object corresponding to a 'table-row' element will be generated between P and T. This object spans all consecutive siblings of T that are not 'table-row' elements.
  7. If a child T of a 'table-row' element P is not a 'table-cell' element, an object corresponding to a 'table-cell' element will be generated between P and T. This object spans all consecutive siblings of T that are not 'table-cell' elements.

17.5 Visual layout of table contents

The following note:

Note. Table cells may be relatively and absolutely positioned, but this is not recommended: positioning and floating remove a box from the flow, affecting table alignment.

Should be amended as follows:

Note. Table cells may be positioned, but this is not recommended: absolute and fixed positioning, as well as floating, remove a box from the flow, affecting table size.

17.5 Visual layout of table contents

Change:

Like other elements of the document language, internal table elements generate rectangular boxes with content, padding, and borders. They do not have margins, however.

to:

Like other elements of the document language, internal table elements generate rectangular boxes with content and borders. Cells have padding as well. Internal table elements do not have margins.

Section 17.6.1 The separated borders model

In the image, change "cell-spacing" to "border-spacing".

Minor Typographical Errors

Section 2.1

For the example with the LINK element, the list following the example incorrectly refers to the "ref" attribute. This should be the "href" attribute.

Section 3.1

Under the definition of "Child", the phrase "if an only if" should read "if and only if".

Under the definition of "Sibling", the last sentence should read, "Element B is a following sibling if it comes after A in the document tree."

Section 3.4

The correct RFC number for the registration of the "text/css" content type is RFC 2318, not RFC 2138.

Section 5.11.4

In "XML uses an attribute called XML:LANG", the XML attribute should be in lowercase, i.e., xml:lang.

Section 5.12.1

The rendering of the first example is:

THIS IS A SOMEWHAT LONG HTML PARAGRAPH THAT
will be broken into several lines. 

while the fictional tag sequence is given as:

<P><P:first-line> This is a somewhat long HTML 
      paragraph that will </P:first-line> ...

The word "will" should follow the fictional tag sequence for :first-line.

Section 6.4

The last sentence in the penultimate paragraph should begin "All user and author rules..." instead of "All rules user and author rules...".

Section 8.5.2

Section 8.5.3 Border style

Under the definition of "ridge", change "grove" to "groove".

Section 9.2.1

In the example after the diagram, the HTML fragment "<P>This is the content of P.</>" should end instead with the end tag "</P>".

Section 9.2.2, Anonymous inline boxes

In the (third paragraph) sentence "In the example, the color of the anonymous initial boxes is inherited from the P, but the background is transparent", substitute the word "inline" for "initial".

Section 9.4.3

In the second paragraph, "a new a new" should only read "a new".

Section 9.7 Relationships between 'display', 'position', and 'float'

Section 10.6.1

The 'height' property doesn't apply. The height of the content area is equal to the actual font size of the element. The vertical padding, border and margin of an inline, non-replaced box start at the top and bottom of the font, not the 'line-height'. But only the 'line-height' is used to compute the height of the line box.

If more than one font size is used (this could happen when glyphs are found in different fonts), the height of the content area is not defined by this specification. However, we recommend that the largest font size determine the content height.

Section 11.1.1

In the description of the 'scroll' value, add "a" to "if the user agent uses [a] scrolling mechanism".

Section 12.2

In the definition of <counter>, the sentence "The latter function also has two forms: 'counter(name, string)' or 'counter(name, string, style)'" should read "two forms: 'counters(name, string)' or 'counters(name, string, style)'"

Section 12.6.1

Change the third paragraph as follows:

For the :before pseudo-element, the baseline in the marker box will be vertically aligned with the baseline in the first line box of the principal box. If the principal box contains no line boxes, or if there is a block box within the principal box that is above the first line box, the top outer edge of the marker box will be aligned with the top outer edge of the principal box.

For the :after pseudo-element, the baseline in the marker box will be vertically aligned with the baseline in the last line box in the principal box. If the principal box contains no line boxes, or if there is a block box within the principal box that is below the last line box, the bottom outer edge of the marker box will be aligned with the bottom outer edge of the principal box.

Section 13.2

In the following code, put a ":" after "size".

@page { size 8.5in 11in; margin: 2cm }

Section 14.3

The first sentence has one too many "the"s in "please consult the the Gamma Tutorial...".

Section 19.8

In the following sentence from the definition of the 'voice-family' property:

If quoting is omitted, any whitespace characters before and after the font name are ignored and any sequence of whitespace characters inside the font name is converted to a single space.

all occurrences of the word "font" should be replaced by "voice family".

Section D.2 Lexical scanner

Remove "RGB S*" from the rule "term" since rgb() is covered by the "function" production, which matches counter(), atrr(), format(), and others as well.

Section D.3 Comparison of tokenization in CSS2 and CSS1

In the last bullet, change .\55ft to .\35 5ft.

Appendix A: Sample Style Sheet for HTML 4.0

The value of the 'line-height' property set for the BODY element should be "1.12em".

The OBJECT and APPLET elements should have 'display: inline'.

Clarifications

Section 4.1.1

DELIM should not include single or double quote. Refer also to section 4.1.6 on strings, which must have matching single or double quotes around them.

Section 5.5

Near the end of the section, the text 'Note the whitespace on either side of the "*"' may be misleading. The note is not meant to imply that whitespace is required on both sides of the "*" (since the grammar does not require it in this case) but that one may use whitespace in this case.

Section 6.2.1

The 'inherit' value causes the properties value to be inherited. This applies even to properties for which values do not otherwise inherit.

6.4 The Cascade

Change "Rules specified in a given style sheet override rules imported from other style sheets." to Change "Rules specified in a given style sheet override rules of the same weight imported from other style sheets." to

Section 8.1

Section 8.3.1

Add this clarifying note to the first bullet of the explanation of vertical collapsing of margins:

Note. Adjoining boxes may be generated by elements that are not related as siblings or ancestors.

Section 9.4.2

The statement "When an inline box is split, margins, borders, and padding have no visual effect where the split occurs." may be generalized. Margins, borders, and padding have no visual effect where one or more splits occur.

Section 9.4.3

Relatively positioned boxes do not always establish new containing blocks. Change the second paragraph to:

A relatively positioned box keeps its normal flow size, including line breaks and the space originally reserved for it. The section on containing blocks explains when a relatively positioned box establishes a new containing block.

The following attempts to clarify the meaning of the 'left', 'right', 'top' and 'bottom' properties for relative positioning:

For relatively positioned elements, 'left' and 'right' move the box(es) horizontally, without changing their size. 'Left' moves the boxes to the right, and 'right' moves them to the left. Since boxes are not split or stretched as a result of 'left' or 'right', the computed values are always: left = -right.

If both 'left' and 'right' are 'auto' (their initial values), the computed values are '0' (i.e., the boxes stay in their original position).

If 'left' is 'auto', its computed value is minus the value of 'right' (i.e., the boxes move to the left by the value of 'right').

If 'right' is specified as 'auto', its computed value is minus the value of 'left'.

If neither 'left' nor 'right' is 'auto', the position is over-constrained, and one of them has to be ignored. If the 'direction' property is 'ltr', the value of 'left' wins and 'right' becomes -'left'. If 'direction' is 'rtl', 'right' wins and 'left' is ignored.

Example. The following two style sheets are equivalent:

    DIV.a8 { position: relative; left: -1em; right: auto }
and
    DIV.a8 { position: relative; left: auto; right: 1em }

The 'top' and 'bottom' properties move relatively positioned elements up or down. They also must be each other's negative. If both are 'auto', their computed values are both '0'. If one of them is 'auto', it becomes the negative of the other. If neither is 'auto', 'bottom' is ignored (i.e., the computed value of 'bottom' will be minus the value of 'top').

Section 9.10

In this sentence of the last paragraph:

Conforming HTML user agents may therefore ignore the 'direction' and 'unicode-bidi' properties in author and user style sheets.

the word "ignore" means that if a 'unicode-bidi' or 'direction' value conflicts with the HTML 4.0 "dir" attribute value, then user agents may choose to use the "dir" value rather than the CSS properties.

User agents are not required to support the 'direction' and 'unicode-bidi' properties to conform to CSS2 unless they support bi-directional text rendering (except for the case of HTML 4.0 as noted above).

Section 10.8.1

Clarify this paragraph:

Note that replaced elements have a 'font-size' and a 'line-height' property, even if they are not used directly to determine the height of the box. The 'font-size' is, however, used to define the 'em' and 'ex' units, and the 'line-height' has a role in the 'vertical-align' property.

as follows:

Note that replaced elements have a 'font-size' and a 'line-height' property, even if they are not used directly to determine the height of the box: 'em' and 'ex' values are relative to values of 'font-size' and percentage values for 'vertical-align' are relative to values of 'line-height'.

Section 11.1

Clarifications to the last two bullets on when overflow may occur:

Section 11.1.1

Remove 'projection' from this sentence under the value 'scroll'

When this value is specified and the target medium is 'print' or 'projection', overflowing content should be printed.

Section 11.1.2

Values of "rect()" should be separated by commas. Thus, the definition of <shape> should start:

In CSS2, the only valid <shape> value is: rect (<top>, <right>, <bottom>, <left>) ...

Due to this ambiguity, user agents may support separation of offsets in "rect()" with or without commas.

12.2 The 'content' property

Clarification to the following lines:

The :before and :after pseudo-elements elements allow values of the 'display' property as follows:

Lists 12.6.2

To clarify Hebrew numbering, add "(Alef, Bet, ... Tet Vav, Tet Zayin, ... Yod Tet, Kaf ...)".

14.2 The background

In the fourth paragraph, add to the end of "User agents should observe the following precedence rules to fill in the background" the following words: "of the canvas".

Section 15.2.4

Add to the explanation of 'font-size' the following clarification: "The font size corresponds to the em square, a concept used in typography. Note that certain glyphs may bleed outside their em squares."

Section 16.1

Add to:

The value of 'text-indent' may be negative, but there may be implementation-specific limits.

the following clarification: "If the value of 'text-indent' is negative, the value of 'overflow' will affect whether the text is visible."

16.2 Alignment: the 'text-align' property

Change "double justify" to "justify" under "left, right, center, and justify".

Section 17.6.2 The collapsing borders model

In the sentence after the question, add "and padding-lefti and padding-righti refer to the left (resp., right) padding of cell i."

Section 18.2

For the 'ButtonHighlight' value, change the description from "Dark shadow" to "Highlight color".

Section 19.3

The parenthetical phrase "somewhat analogous to the 'display' property" is misleading. The 'speak' property resembles 'visibility' in some ways and 'display' in others.

Appendix A

The @page rule should be entirely outside the @media block:

 @page         { margin: 10% }
 @media print {
        H1, H2, H3,
        ... 
 }

Appendix D.2 Lexical scanner

Remove the following line from the scanner as it do not appear in the grammar:

   "@"{ident}              {return ATKEYWORD;}

The DIMEN token is in the scanner to ensure that a number followed by an identifier is read as one token rather than two. This case is considered an error in CSS2.

Changes

The following changes are proposed by the CSS Working Group. Please note that these changes have "working draft" status and may not be considered definitive unless incorporated into a revised Recommendation.

Section 11.1.2

While CSS2 specifies that values of "rect()" specify offsets from the respective sides of the box, current implementations interpret values with respect to the top and left edges for all four values (top, right, bottom, and left). The Working Group proposes to revise CSS2 to conform to current practice.