485241 - <wbr> interferes with shaping (ligatures, kerning)

Status: NEW

(Core :: Layout: Text and Fonts, defect)

Description

[Jonathan Kew [:jfkthame]]

Attachment: example showing effect of <wbr> where kerning or ligature should occur

The presence of <wbr>, to provide a possible line-break position, inhibits any glyph shaping behavior such as kerning at the place where it occurs. If it is not used as a line-break position, <wbr> should have no visible effect on the surrounding text.

Sample is attached that shows how <wbr> prevents kerning and ligation, assuming the default font supports these features (true on Mac OS X, at least).

This issue was hinted at in comments on bug 474417, but not really addressed there.

Comment 1

[Leif Halvard Silli]

Attachment: page which shows that the bug filer is incorrect

Comment 2

[Leif Halvard Silli]

This bug is invalid.

Because: HTML5 defines the <wbr> as a word separtor. And that is how Firefox treats it.  (Though with some minor bugs here and there - see the attachment.)