---There's no reason someone couldn't have a font named "bold" or anything else. A lot of X users have simple names (like "sans") that are linked to whatever font is the local preference, to allow generic documents to specify a "name" that gets localized to a specific font. Looking at our local catalog, we don't have a "bold" but we do have a "b" (I think for use by a troff descendant).
I don't think it's especially unlikely.
--- | The 'font' property is a shorthand notation intended to make life | easier if you write style sheets by hand. The syntax is an old | typographic convention. Requireing extra punctuatation in the value | defeats the purpose of the property.---With respect, I don't think there is any "old typographic convention" that dictates that exact syntax given in the spec. Certainly the first part ("10/12 Times New Roman") is common, but a type spec would never include multiple typefaces, and the "style" and "weight" components conflate things that would might be conveyed by text markings (e.g., underlining with a wavy line for bold, a single line for italics, two lines for small caps, ...), might be a typeface modifier, or might, sometimes, use a separate face altogether.
I don't think using a comma instead of a space between components would confuse or inconvenience, and would make the parsing much simpler and unambiguous. I think it's the cost of allowing multiple font-families in the spcification.
--- | Another solution is to limit the number of font names to 1 in the | 'font' property: | | a) font: 12pt/14pt sans-serif bold; /* legal */ | b) font: 12pt/14pt helvetica sans-serif bold; /* illegal? */ | | I would prefer also allowing b).---I don't mind the restriction to one font in the shorthand form, but if you want to allow (b), you need to do one of these:
use punctuation to separate the components: b1) font: 12pt/14pt,helvetica sans-serif,bold;
or bracket the typefaces: b2) font: 12pt/14pt (helvetica sans-serif) bold;
or require special puctuation between the typefaces: b3) font: 12pt/14pt helvetica or sans-serif bold; b4) font: 12pt/14pt helvetica | sans-serif bold;
scott
-- scott preece motorola/mcg urbana design center 1101 e. university, urbana, il 61801 phone: 217-384-8589 fax: 217-384-8550 internet mail: preece@urbana.mcd.mot.com