224584 - Allow text to flow into transparent regions -- allows for non-rectanguar images.

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Core :: Layout: Floats, enhancement)

Description

[Neil Fraser]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.0.0+) Gecko/20020518
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.0.0+) Gecko/20020518

When a web developer wants text to flow around a non-rectangual image, the only
option is to slice the image up, and carefully arrange the peices and the text.
 This is a poor solution since it doesn't stretch well.

This page contains a map of Scotland, aligned to the right:
  http://highlandroots.co.uk/
The text should be allowed to flow in and hug the image closer.  Implimenting
this at the moment would involve slicing the image into four or five horizontal
strips, then trying to either use tables or DHTML to reassemble the map.

On this page the menu is non-rectangular:
  http://tullochcastle.co.uk/
Allowing text to flow into transparent sections would give the designer the
option of letting the content to hug the menu shape.

Another use for filling in transparent sections would be this page:
  http://bootless.net/mouse.html
A single image (the same colour as the background) could be used as a path for
the poem to follow, instead of a page-full of DHTML position coordinates.

Obviously adding this feature would break lots of existing pages which rely on
images to be rectangular.  So I suggest adding an attribute to the IMG or OBJECT
tags to allow the browser to use the transparent areas.  Is there a way to add a
feature like this without violating W3 standards?

I fully understand if the Gecko gurus don't want to touch this with a 10 foot
pole; I'm sure it would involve some really nasty programming.  However I
suspect that if (when?) IE adds this feature, websites (and browsers) where all
images are rectangles will quickly start to look dated.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:

Comment 1

[Boris Zbarsky [:bzbarsky]]

I'd suggest bringing this up on the [e-mail] mailing list to discuss a
possible standardized solution to this problem...

Comment 2

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This is an automated message, with ID "auto-resolve01".

This bug has had no comments for a long time. Statistically, we have found that
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Comment 3

[Tony Mechelynck [:tonymec]]

No reply to comment #2 => INCOMPLETE