These kinds of tradeoffs can be handled better, though. It's worth taking a look at how Windows Presentation Foundation does things, for example. It places the

These kinds of tradeoffs can be handled better, though. It's worth taking a look at how Windows Presentation Foundation does things, for example. It places the decision of whether to size individual elements according to their content size, the size of the container they're being placed into, or their total width front and center, in a way that, IMO, leads to less head scratching and compromises. I think the issue here is that CSS was originally envisioned primarily as a styling tool, and layout functionality was bolted on as an afterthought, through a design-by-committee process. So, yes, it works, and anyone can learn it, but it would be nice if the overall effect were one of a technology that had a clear plan all along.