Re: [Orgmode] Re: Aligning Columns in HTML Export Tables

[Carsten Dominik]

On Oct 25, 2010, at 3:13 PM, Christian Moe wrote:

> On 10/25/10 11:08 AM, Carsten Dominik wrote:
> > On Oct 25, 2010, at 10:51 AM, Christian Moe wrote:
> >
> > > On 10/25/10 6:36 AM, Baoqiu Cui wrote:
> > > I am wondering if there
> > > > is any special reason to use "class" instead of "align". If not,
> > > > can we
> > > > change the elisp code to use "align"?
> > >
> > > I believe the "align" attribute is slated for obsoletion in HTML5,
> > > on the grounds that it's better handled by CSS.
> > >
> > > http://www.w3.org/TR/html5/obsolete.html
> > >
> > > It's a reason to go with "class" instead. Not a compelling one,
> > > perhaps.
> > >
> > > My only strong opinion on this is that I absolutely agree with the
> > > choice not to set the "style" attribute locally on each table cell.
> >
> > Hmm, butwe do now set the class in each cell. Is that any better?
> >
> > - Carsten
>
> It's a subtle difference, and every way works, so I don't want to  
> waste more of your time.
>
> #+begin_rant
> But yes, I think it /is/ better, for the same reason Sebastian  
> requested it: Setting class is the preferred way to make all cells  
> of that class custom-styleable by changing a single line in the  
> stylesheet.
>
> As I pointed out below, though, it's not the only way. CSS lets you  
> do the same, nearly as easily, if "align" is used instead of "class"  
> as Baoqiu Cui suggested; "class" is more future-proof (HTML5),  
> "align" more compact (the default is already defined).
>
> (Heck, come to think of it, Sebastian could have monospaced the left- 
> aligned column in his example even when Org set "style" on each  
> cell, using a selector like:
> : td[style="text-align: left;"] { font-family: monospace; }
> -- but that, I think, would be perverse.)
>
> Over-use of the style attribute to set styles locally works against  
> the purpose of CSS. The local style attribute should be used for  
> exceptions; general rules should be handled at a higher level of the  
> cascade.

I agree.  But in the context of text alignment in tables, not all  
browsers support
styles specified for entire columns.  I think it is ridiculous to have  
to specify the alignment (or a class) for each field, but the browser  
realities force me.

OK, I will use class.  I could make a special case for the docbook  
exporter......

> Having to set /anything/ on each cell just to align a column is not  
> optimal either, but since some browsers don't honor colgroups, it's  
> the most robust way.

:-)  Just what I think.  OK, a class it is.

- Carsten
> > > > td.right { font-family:monospace;text-align:right; }
> > >
> > > Using the "align" attribute as follows,
> > >
> > > <tr>
> > > <td align="right">1</td>
> > > <td align="left">bar</td>
> > > <td align="left">text</td>
> > > <tr>
> > >
> > > Sebastian could achieve the same with CSS like
> > >
> > > td[align="right"] { font-family: monospace;}
> > >
> > > In the same way one could even use CSS to override the alignment
> > > specified by the "align" attribute, if for whatever reason this
> > > seemed like a good idea...
> > >
> > > One slight advantage of the "align" attribute over "class" is that
> > > it doesn't require the default style to contain the extra verbiage
> > > Carsten mentioned:
> > >
> > > > I have now in the default style:
> > > >
> > > > td, th { vertical-align: top; }
> > > > th.right { text-align:right; }
> > > > th.left { text-align:left; }
> > > > th.center { text-align:center; }
> > > > td.right { text-align:right; }
> > > > td.left { text-align:left; }
> > > > td.center { text-align:center; }
> > > >
> > > > Is there a way to write this more compactly?
> > >
> > > Yours,
> > > Christian
> >
> > - Carsten

- Carsten