[WSG] Forms question
When validating a page containing a form for XHTML 1.0 Transitional, I get the following message regarding a textarea: required attribute cols not specified Why can't we specify a percentage width for the textarea in the CSS instead? It works, but it doesn't validate without the cols attribute being defined, and if I'm going to define cols then there's no purpose for the width in the CSS, is there? Does this have to do with being able to enter text beyond that CSS-defined width? Thanks for your enlightenment... Leslie Riggs ** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list getting help **
Re: [WSG] Forms question
cols is used to define the number of characters on a line. That is percent is giving you an error. The default for this in html 4.01 is 80. I believe in xhtml it is required to be defined. Parker Unfolded WebDesign http://webdesign.parkertorrence.com On 5/23/05, Leslie Riggs [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: When validating a page containing a form for XHTML 1.0 Transitional, I get the following message regarding a textarea: required attribute cols not specified Why can't we specify a percentage width for the textarea in the CSS instead? It works, but it doesn't validate without the cols attribute being defined, and if I'm going to define cols then there's no purpose for the width in the CSS, is there? Does this have to do with being able to enter text beyond that CSS-defined width? Thanks for your enlightenment... Leslie Riggs ** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list getting help ** ** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list getting help **
Re: [WSG] Forms question
I'm using XHTML 1.0 Transitional. I don't have a percentage defined in the markup. It's defined in the CSS as width: 65% and I left the cols attribute unspecified. What I want to understand is why is cols required by the W3C standard, if the width can be defined in CSS? Is there a specific purpose to that, that can't be served by the width attribute in CSS? The reason I'm questioning this is when you have a layout with a form inside a container with a percentage width defined in CSS, but you have cols hard coded in the markup, couldn't that create a problem with the way a UA renders a page, particularly when cols is effectively wider than the containing area on a page? For example, say I've got a form with a textarea, cols at 80. I have a container for that form that is set to 60% width (in the CSS). Now, if I have a small screen, the container will take up 75% of the screen width...could cols, set at 80, break that layout or will it still render acceptably? I am just respectfully asking for help in understanding why cols is required by the W3C standard if a width attribute could be set in CSS for textarea. Thanks, Leslie Riggs cols is used to define the number of characters on a line. That is percent is giving you an error. The default for this in html 4.01 is 80. I believe in xhtml it is required to be defined. ** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list getting help **
Re: [WSG] Forms question
Leslie Riggs wrote: What I want to understand is why is cols required by the W3C standard, if the width can be defined in CSS? The way I find it easiest to explain is to think about what happens if CSS was to be disabled in the browser, or the browser was incapable of processing CSS (take Lynx, for example). If the cols are not defined in the markup then what is the browser supposed to show? Cheers Peter -- Peter Asquith http://www.wasabicube.com/ ** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list getting help **
Re: [WSG] Forms question
Isn't the default 80 columns? Leslie Riggs What I want to understand is why is cols required by the W3C standard, if the width can be defined in CSS? The way I find it easiest to explain is to think about what happens if CSS was to be disabled in the browser, or the browser was incapable of processing CSS (take Lynx, for example). If the cols are not defined in the markup then what is the browser supposed to show? Cheers Peter ** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list getting help **
Re: [WSG] Forms question
Leslie Riggs wrote: Isn't the default 80 columns? From the DTD, my understanding is that cols is a required attribute but no default value is specified (see http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd). It could be that the defaults you refer to are browser defaults. Cheers Peter -- Peter Asquith http://www.wasabicube.com/ ** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list getting help **
