start-indent/end-indent vs. absolute positioning

I'm having trouble coming to grips with the idea of start-indent and
end-indent in the context of absolutely-positioned blocks. With CSS2
and its margins, it all makes sense, more or less (see CSS2 section
10.3.7). But now we have the New and Improved (tm) start-indent and
end-indent instead of margins, and the model kind of falls apart: The
start-indent is supposed to be measured from the edge of the
area-container, while the "left" property is measured from the edge of
the containing block. This suggests that the "left" value will be
absorbed into the margin; "left" and "right" effectively become
superfluous (assuming lr-tb writing-mode, of course). At least, I
can't think of any way to achieve consistent results while continuing
to take them into account. Similar ambiguities arise when considering
the perpendicular direction.

As a workaround, I'm temporarily ignoring start-indent, end-indent,
space-before, and space-after on absolutely-positioned blocks, but
still paying attention to the margins, if explicitly set. I have to
say, however, that I'm not at all comfortable with this. My feeling is
that XSL needs to choose: Do things one way (block-relative, a la
CSS2) or the other (area-container-relative), but don't try to mix the
two; that path leads to chaos, anarchy, and possibly even plagues of
locusts.

-Steve Schafer


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