w3c / w3c/csswg-drafts

[css-cascade-4] Inconsistency between "value space" and "value syntax"

Open
#7,586 1 comment 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

Nobody has claimed this yet.

css-cascade-4
Dominant language
Bikeshed
Stars
4.9k
Forks
816
PR merge metrics
PR metrics pending

Description

css-backgrounds-3/Overview.bs
2675:      since other properties will be eliding the three-value syntax.

css-cascade-3/Overview.bs
50:	a value space

css-cascade-4/Overview.bs
81:	a value space
425:			When the old property’s value syntax is identical
1353:			Removed possibility of [=legacy name aliases=] to map subsets of the value space,

css-cascade-5/Overview.bs
55:	a value space
383:			When the old property’s value syntax is identical

css-flexbox-1/Overview.bs
3733:			Updated value syntax in property definition tables

css-font-loading-3/Overview.bs
756:			using the CSS value syntax of the 'font' property.

css-text-4/Overview.bs
6083:		Suggestion for value space is ''match-indent | <<length>> | <<percentage>>''

css-values-3/Overview.bs
173:	For readability these are not listed explicitly in the property value syntax definitions.
1660:	Note: The 'background-position' property also accepts a three-value syntax.
2507:		<li>Inlined the <<position>> definition and dropped the three-value syntaxes

css-values-4/Overview.bs
175:	For readability these are not listed explicitly in the property value syntax definitions.
2638:	Note: The 'background-position' property also accepts a three-value syntax.

css-variables-1/Overview.bs
374:Custom Property Value Syntax</h3>

css-variables-2/Overview.bs
364:Custom Property Value Syntax</h3>

cssom-1/Overview.bs
2734:part of the property value space and will therefore cause
2764:        (a pattern typically represented by a double bar <a grammar>||</a> in the value syntax),

Notably, we mostly use "Value Syntax" and not "Value Space" aside from one use in Cascade (in the intro), one use in CSSOM (in a Note), and one use in Text (in an Issue).

I guess arguably we could make a distinction between "Value Syntax" (i.e., the formal grammar) and the "Value Space" (i.e., the formal language), which do (of course) have a correspondence. But it seems silly to use "value space" a few times informatively when we use "Syntax" everywhere normatively.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Review the cited occurrences in css-cascade-3/Overview.bs, css-cascade-4/Overview.bs, css-cascade-5/Overview.bs, css-values-3/Overview.bs, css-values-4/Overview.bs, cssom-1/Overview.bs, css-text-4/Overview.bs, and css-backgrounds-3/Overview.bs. Determine whether “value space” has a distinct intended meaning from “value syntax”; done requires an agreed terminology choice applied consistently or a documented distinction.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
css
Domain
documentation
Issue type
Documentation
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.