/** \page dw-out-of-flow-floats Handling Elements Out Of Flow: Floats
TODO: Much missing.
(Historical) Note: Floats make use of dw-size-request-pos, which reduces the
complexity of a previous design.
Sorting floats
==============
Floats are sorted, to make binary search possible, in these lists:
- for each generator: dw::OutOfFlowMgr::TBInfo::leftFloatsGB and
dw::OutOfFlowMgr::TBInfo::rightFloatsGB;
- for the container: dw::OutOfFlowMgr::leftFloatsCB and
dw::OutOfFlowMgr::rightFloatsCB.
The other two lists, dw::OutOfFlowMgr::leftFloatsAll and
dw::OutOfFlowMgr::rightFloatsAll are not sorted at all.
New floats are always added to the end of either list; this order is
called *generation order*. See also above: *GB lists and CB lists*.
On the other hand, there are different sorting criteria, implemented
by different comparators, so that different kinds of keys may be used
for searching. These sorting criteria are equivalent to the generation
order.
dw::OutOfFlowMgr::Float::CompareSideSpanningIndex compares
*sideSpanningIndex* (used to compare floats to those on the respective
other side); if you look at the definition
(dw::OutOfFlowMgr::addWidgetOOF) it becomes clear that this order is
equivalent to the generation order.
dw::OutOfFlowMgr::Float::CompareGBAndExtIndex compares *externalIndex*
for floats with same generators, otherwise: (i) if one generator (T1)
is a direct anchestor of the other generator (T2), the child of T1,
which is an anchestor of, or identical to, T2 is compared to the float
generated by T1, using *externalIndex*, as in this example:
T1 -+-> child --> ... -> T2 -> Float
`-> Float
Otherwise, the two blocks are compared, according to their position in
dw::OutOfFlowMgr::tbInfos:
common anchestor -+-> ... --> T1 -> Float
`-> ... --> T2 -> Float
This is equivalent to the generation order, as long it is ensured that
*externalIndex* reflects the generation order within a generating
block, for both floats and child blocks.
dw::OutOfFlowMgr::Float::ComparePosition ...
Miscellaneous notes
===================
Handling collisions
-------------------
The CSS specification allows two strategies to deal with colliding
floats: placing the second float beside or below the first one. Many
other browsers implement the first approach, while dillo implements
the second one, which may cause problems when the author assumes the
first. Example: the "tabs" at the top of every page at Wikipedia
("Article", "Talk", ...).
Float containers in flow
------------------------
Consider the following HTML snippet:
Text
Interestingly, dillo shows "Text" always *below* the image, even if
there is enough space left of it. An investigation shows that the
paragraph (<p>) is regarded as own floats container (because of
*overflow:hidden*), so the floats container above (<body>)
regards this block as widget which must be fit between the floats
(dw::Textblock::mustBorderBeRegarded >
dw::Textblock::getWidgetRegardingBorderForLine). However, since a
textblock in flow always covers (at least) the whole available width,
which is defined *without* considering floats, the space left of the
float will always be to narrow, so that the paragraph is moved below
the float, by inserting an empty line before.
When searching for a solution, several difficulties show up:
1. The available width, which is used for the width of the textblock,
is defined independent of floats. Aside from problems when changing
this definition, a dependance on floats would be difficult to
implement, since *sizeRequest* is independent of a position. (See
also \ref dw-out-of-flow.)
2. I must admit that I do not rembember the exact rationale and the
test case behind adding the exception in
dw::Textblock::getWidgetRegardingBorderForLine (see above), but
simply removing this exception will result in a possible
overlapping of floats from both containers, since no collisions are
tested for.
3. On the other hand, mixing the float containers (interaction of two
or more instances of dw::oof::OOFFloatsMgr), e. g. for
collision tests, would become too complex and possibly result in
performance problems.
Instead, this approach is focussed:
- Goal: the paragraph is narrowed so it fits, *as a whole*, between
the floats.
- The approach is to remove the exception in
dw::Textblock::getWidgetRegardingBorderForLine. A textblock, which
is a float container in flow (as this paragraph), is returned by
this method and so dw::Textblock::mustBorderBeRegarded returns
*true*. This will put this paragraph again at the correct position.
- To avoid overlappings, the linebreaking width of this paragraph
(which is also used for positioning of floats) is the available
width, minus the maximal float width on either side. (This is an
approach similar to the one dw::Ruler will use soon). Most likely,
some new methods will have to be added to calculate this.
- For paragraphs like this, dw::Textblock::borderChanged must rewrap
all lines; *y* is irrelevant in this case.
- Since the textblock will tend to become taller when getting
narrower, and so possibly cover more (wider) floats, and so become
narrower again etc., there may be multible solutions for calculating
the size. Generally, a smaller height (and so larger width) is
preferred.
- There remains a problem: what if a word is too large? Should a
textblock of this kind then reard the floats in detail, to insert
empty lines when needed?
**Real-world cases:** *Overflow:hidden* is set for headings in
Wikipedia, and so this case occurs when there is a float (thumb image)
before a heading. See e. g.
this page
and scroll a bit up; the company logos should be right of this section.
**Priority:** Since this is not a regression, compared to not
supporting floats at all, a fix is not urgent for a new release.
*/