This diagram illustrates the effects of absolutely positioning a box with respect to a coordinate system established by a normally positioned parent.
A document window is shown, with 8 lines numbered 1 to 8. Line height is 24px. Five lines of text are displayed, occupying line 1 to 3 and 5,6 (forming a box starting at coordinate (-130,200), that is, outside the normal frame of the document window, extending to the left of it.
Beginning of body contents. Start
of outer contents. End of outer
contents. End of body contents.
Inner
contents.
The default color of text is black. "Start of outer contents" is red. The "nts" in "Inner contents" is blue. (supposedly, the rest is invisible since out of the document viewport). "End of outer contents" is red.