Michal Suchánek composed on 2017-04-18 19:00 (UTC+0200):
If CSS were implemented as you would like it in browsers and 1cm was actually 1cm on computer screen, 1cm on phone screen and 1cm on wall as projected by a beamer there would be no sane unit for web designers to use to make the web elements visible on all devices. They would have to design a different CSS for every screen size the users might use.
Sizing in physical units should always have been a special case, an exception to normal styling, for those times when it was and is of primary importance to render at a specific physical size regardless of the device type upon which rendered. Sane units have existed since the beginning of CSS, but few stylists use them. Stylists were given too much control, and they've used every bit of it, and keep demanding more. Web pages that were considered bloated 20 years ago at less than 100k including presentational markup have become uncommonly as small as 100k, often more than 1000k including 2X or 3X or more CSS than HTML, and as much or more scripting as HTML. The CSS px unit never should have been allowed to apply to anything other than bitmapped images. For most other cases, the base sizing unit actually used by stylists should have been and still should be a size personalized by the user of the device rendering the page, be it web browser, wall projector, pocket watch or telephone. That size was 1em originally, later, and still, 1rem - IOW, whatever size the browser defaults to. However many px are required to produce an em or rem or multiple or fraction thereof should be up to the software to figure out. That's the kind of stuff computers are made for.
One possibility to solve that would be implementing a new unit like 'veiw angle' and deprecating all the old units - pixels, centimeters, points.
The CSS px unit is technically exactly that, a viewing angle determined concoction. Converting physical units into logical units didn't do anything but convenience the browser makers by making the inept styling pervading the web not look like it was the fault of the browser makers rather than the dismal styling of inept designers. Deprecating them wouldn't solve the problem of fulfilling a *limited* need to render at specific physical sizes on computing device screens. Eliminating them eliminated the ability to fulfill valid use cases. The stylist has no direct idea how big routine objects need to be on my device to be usable to me. The best he can do is assume I made a choice and work with a unit that is based upon my specification. Whatever number of discrete device rendering units correlate to required sizes should be up to the computer to work out. The arbitrary angular px specification is at best orthogonal to user needs, if not downright contrary. Use of px units to style usurps the control the device user is supposed to own. It needlessly makes the web hard for users. It leads to further bloated mushrooming size of web pages to work around the very trouble stylists created themselves, paradoxically named "responsive design". Using em, rem or % units in the first place they wouldn't need but a fraction of the convoluted probing and calculation, basically whether the rendering device viewport is wider than tall or vice versa in order to present desired perspectives.
Given the adoption of such changes web designers W3C rather chose the redefinition of existing units which makes existing sites work
Redefine, usurp, conscript, hijack, all the same bad stuff.
seamlessly on any device when implemented according to specification and does not require designers to change to new units.
They chose to keep the broken broken, and break more, is what they did. Designers were misusing and continue to misuse suitable units CSS gave them from the start.
I can see your proposal as vastly inferior solution to creating usable web designs.
The tools to produce maximally usable designs have existed for many years. They simply do not get appreciable use. Lest anyone cite availability of zoom or similar functionality provided by web browsers, it needs be remembered that they are defensive mechanisms. Defenses are needed only on account of offensive behavior. -- "The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation) Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-factory+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse-factory+owner@opensuse.org