New properties for <a> in CSS3

[mindlessLemming]

According to the Web Standards Project (WASP) the CSS working group has been busy on new projects including two great CSS3 features:
1.The Hyperlink Presentation Module 1st Working Draft , which basically outlines a new <a> attribute,
target .
2.The CSS "Reader" Media Type , which will allow us to specify a seperate rule set for screen-readers, braille output devices and other aural or bitmap output (?) devices.
Sweet
Being first working drafts they are still a fair way off being final recommendations, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
We all know which browser will support this stuff first, don't we
So who's got something to say?


Andrew

[me']

a { target-new: tab }

Hell yeah.

[liorean]

Nice, but I see a problem here - there's no way to construct a user stylesheet that overrides just the style rules that specify target-name to be new or modal.

[me']

You can get halfway there:

* { target-new: tab !important }

But that still lets modal dialogues through.

[brothercake]

But if you go:

* { target-new: none !important }

Won't that just make those links do nothing at all?

I don't like it ... I thought we were getting rid of link targetting because it's considered a bad thing to do, not because its semantics are more akin to CSS than XHTML (which I don't agree with anyway - I don't think targetting is HTML semantics or presentation; it's interface control, which is a different thing entirely, and not something XHTML or CSS should address, imo).

I don't want websites to be able to open new tabs within my browser just as much as I don't want them to be able to open windows.

But at a pinch, Modular XHTML can still do targetting; so what is there to gain from this that can't be acheived in other ways, and without the accessibility question marks?

But I like the new media type - that could be helpful.

[liorean]

Well, from what I understand they moved this to styles because it isn't semantics, and shouldn't really be present in the link semantics specifications. Also, they wanted a uniform method for doing it across XML applications without introducing either a new language or make too large changes in the old ones. They will probably change XLink to be more a link identification language, and let this spec control the presentation part (or at least the part that isn't semantics.).


Have a look at <http://www.w3.org/2003/01/16-tag-xlink>, <http://people.opera.com/howcome/2000...ink-nov-6.html> and <http://www.w3.org/TR/hlink/>. For related proposals and the TAG discussions.

[mindlessLemming]

Originally posted by brothercake

But I like the new media type - that could be helpful.

Damn straight

[Mhtml]

Cool .. I can ditch a little js I use for targetting.

[mindlessLemming]

Originally posted by Mhtml
Cool .. I can ditch a little js I use for targetting.

Yeah, in about 3-5 years when browser support catches up.
I must say though, adding this functionality to CSS took me by surpirse. I really didn't think it was within the presentation scope. But hey, what would I know, I've only been into this stuff for under a year....

[liorean]

Actually the initial Clink proposal is four years old, and the similar markup based Hlink is a year and a half old. Both are trying to address this, which is essentially a failure in HTML/XHTML and XLink as they look today. I personally think CSS is a pretty good solution for this, especially since we have a standardised user overriding mechanism.

The only gripe I have with it is that you can't override CSS on a style rule base, only on a selector base.



As for the support, I woulld not be surprised if Opera started supporting this right away (they had a large part in it being proposed in the first instance), with Safari and Mozilla being two to four months behind. The other browsers are either irrelevant on the whole (e.g. IceBrowser), stagnant (e.g. iew), or discontinued (e.g. iem).





I don't think it's really in the presentation scope - it's just that it's not in any other scope related to the document. A ditched original suggestion was a separate CSS syntax based linking sheets language for just this. HLink is essentially also a linking sheets language, but XML based instead.

[simulcrash]

{ target-new: tab !important }

what is or is there an HTML equivelent?
Simulcrash

[Antoniohawk]

At the moment, there is no equivalent and that won't work until CSS3 becomes the new standard. The only choice that you have is finding an extension that will do what you want.

[hemebond]

Oh man, this is shocking. All the attempts made to stop websites opening new windows or hijacking the users navigation, and they go and add this shit into the specification. Idiots.

It was probably Tantek اelik (he works for Microsoft).

[Antoniohawk]

I'm glad, they need a good guy like him. Maybe he will whip IE into shape.

[mindlessLemming]

It was probably Tantek اelik (he works for Microsoft).

No he doesn't. He works for Technorati. He used to work for microsoft, and was responsible for IE mac's tasman engine; the most CSS capable rendering engine of its time.
Just 'cause someone's boss is evil don't mean squat.
If it did, I wouldn't work for Brady!