ALMcss: a javascript implementation of the CSS template layout module

Abstract

Traditionally, web standards in general and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) in particular take a long time from when they are defined by the W3C until they are implemented by browser vendors. This has been a limitation not only for authors, who had to wait even years before they were able to use certain CSS properties in their web pages, but also for the creators of the specification itself, who were not able to test their proposals in practice. In this paper we present ALMcss, a JavaScript prototype that implements the CSS Template Layout Module, a proposal for an addition to CSS to make it a more capable layout language. It has been developed inside the W3C CSS Working Group by two of the authors of this paper. We present the rationale of the module and an introduction to its syntax, before discussing the design of our prototype. ALMcss has served us as a proof of concept that the Template Layout Module is not only feasible, but it can be in fact implemented in current web browsers using just JavaScript and the Document Object Model (DOM). In addition, ALMcss allows web designers to start to use today the new layout capabilities of CSS that the module provides, even before it becomes an official W3C specification.