So far, layout has been a linear process that handles open tags and close tags independently. But web pages are trees, and look like them: borders and backgrounds visually nest inside one another. To support that, this chapter switches to tree-based layout, where the tree of elements is transformed into a tree of layout objects for the visual elements of the page. In the process, we’ll make our web pages more colorful with backgrounds.

The layout tree

Right now, our browser lays out an element’s open and close tags separately. Both tags modify global state, like the cursor_x and cursor_y variables, but they aren’t otherwise connected, and information about the element as a whole, like its width and height, is never computed. That makes it pretty hard to draw a background color behind text. So web browsers structure layout differently.

In a browser, layout is about producing a layout tree, whose nodes are layout objects, each associated with an HTML element,Elements like <script> don’t generate layout objects, and some elements generate multiple (<li> elements have a layout object for the bullet point!), but mostly it’s one layout object each. and each with a size and a position. The browser walks the HTML tree to produce the layout tree, then computes the size and position for each layout object, and finally draws each layout object to the screen.

Let’s start a new class called BlockLayout, which will represent a node in the layout tree. Like our Element class, layout objects form a tree, so they have a list of children and a parent. We’ll also have a node field for the HTML element the layout object corresponds to.

class BlockLayout:
    def __init__(self, node, parent, previous):
        self.node = node
        self.parent = parent
        self.previous = previous
        self.children = []

I’ve also added a field for the layout object’s previous sibling. We’ll need it to compute sizes and positions.

Each layout object also needs a size and position, which we’ll store in the width, height, x, and y fields. But let’s leave that for later. The first job for BlockLayout is creating the layout tree itself.

We’ll do that in a new layout method, looping over each child node and creating a new child layout object for it.

class BlockLayout:
    def layout(self):
        previous = None
        for child in self.node.children:
            next = BlockLayout(child, self, previous)
            self.children.append(next)
            previous = next

This code is tricky because it involves two trees. The node and child are part of the HTML tree; but self, previous, and next are part of the layout tree. The two trees have similar structure, so it’s easy to get confused. But remember that this code constructs the layout tree from the HTML tree, so it reads from node.children (in the HTML tree) and writes to self.children (in the layout tree).

Anyway, this code creates layout objects for the direct children of the node in question. Now those children’s own layout methods can be called to build the whole tree recursively:

def layout(self):
    # ...
    for child in self.children:
        child.layout()

We’ll discuss the base case of the recursion in just a moment, but first let’s ask how it starts. Inconveniently, the BlockLayout constructor requires a parent node, so we need another kind of layout object at the root.You couldn’t just use None for the parent, because the root layout object also computes its size and position differently, as we’ll see later this chapter. I think of that root as the document itself, so let’s call it DocumentLayout:

class DocumentLayout:
    def __init__(self, node):
        self.node = node
        self.parent = None
        self.children = []

    def layout(self):
        child = BlockLayout(self.node, self, None)
        self.children.append(child)
        child.layout()

So we’re building a layout tree with one layout object per HTML node, plus an extra layout object at the root, by recursively calling layout. It looks like this:

In this example there are four BlockLayout objects, in green, one per element. There’s also a DocumentLayout at the root.

The browser must now move on to computing sizes and positions for each layout object. But before we write that code, we have to face an important truth: different HTML elements are laid out differently. They need different kinds of layout objects!

Layout modes

Elements like <body> and <header> contain blocks stacked vertically. But elements like <p> and <h1> contain text and lay that text out horizontally in lines.In European languages, at least! Abstracting a bit, there are two layout modes, two ways an element can be laid out relative to its children: block layout and inline layout.

We’ve already got BlockLayout for block layout. And actually, we’ve already got inline layout too: it’s just the text layout we’ve been implementing since Chapter 2. So let’s rename the existing Layout class to InlineLayout and refactor to match methods with BlockLayout.

Rename Layout to InlineLayout and rename its constructor to layout. Add a new constructor similar to BlockLayout’s:

class InlineLayout:
    def __init__(self, node, parent, previous):
        self.node = node
        self.parent = parent
        self.previous = previous
        self.children = []

In the new layout method, replace the tree argument with the node field:

class InlineLayout:
    def layout(self):
        # ...
        self.line = []
        self.recurse(self.node)
        self.flush()

Let’s also initialize cursor_x and cursor_y from x and y instead of HSTEP and VSTEP, both in layout and flush:

class InlineLayout:
    def layout(self):
        # ...
        self.cursor_x = self.x
        self.cursor_y = self.y
        # ...

    def flush(self):
        # ...
        self.cursor_x = self.x
        # ...

Inline layout objects aren’t going to have any children for now, so we don’t need any code for that in layout. So the new InlineLayout now matches BlockLayout’s methods. Just as with block layout, let’s leave actually computing x and y and width and height to later.

Our tree-creation code now needs to use the right layout object for each element. Normally this is easy: things with text in them get InlineLayout, things with block elements like <div> inside get BlockLayout. But what happens if an element contains both? In some sense, this is an error on the part of the web developer. And just like with implicit tags in Chapter 4, browsers use a repair mechanism to make sense of the situation. In real browsers, “anonymous block boxes” are used, but in our toy browser we’ll implement something a little simpler.

Here’s a list of block elements:Taken from the HTML5 living standard.

BLOCK_ELEMENTS = [
    "html", "body", "article", "section", "nav", "aside",
    "h1", "h2", "h3", "h4", "h5", "h6", "hgroup", "header",
    "footer", "address", "p", "hr", "pre", "blockquote",
    "ol", "ul", "menu", "li", "dl", "dt", "dd", "figure",
    "figcaption", "main", "div", "table", "form", "fieldset",
    "legend", "details", "summary"
]

We’ll use BlockLayout for elements with children in that list, and InlineLayout otherwise. Put that logic in a new layout_mode function:

def layout_mode(node):
    if isinstance(node, Text):
        return "inline"
    elif node.children:
        for child in node.children:
            if isinstance(child, Text): continue
            if child.tag in BLOCK_ELEMENTS:
                return "block"
        return "inline"
    else:
        return "block"

This function additionally makes sure text nodes get inline layout while empty elements get block layout. Now we can call layout_mode to determine which layout mode to use for each element:

class BlockLayout:
    def layout(self):
        previous = None
        for child in self.node.children:
            if layout_mode(child) == "inline":
                next = InlineLayout(child, self, previous)
            else:
                next = BlockLayout(child, self, previous)
            self.children.append(next)
            previous = next
        # ...

Our layout tree now has a DocumentLayout at the root, BlockLayouts at interior nodes, and InlineLayouts at the leaves:Or, the leaf nodes could be BlockLayouts for empty elements.

With the layout tree built, we can finally move on to computing the sizes and positions for the layout objects in the tree.

Size and position

By default, layout objects are greedy and take up all the horizontal space they can.In the next chapter, we’ll add support for author-defined styles, which modify these rules and allow setting custom widths, borders, or padding. So their width is their parent’s width:

class BlockLayout:
    def layout(self):
        # ...
        self.width = self.parent.width
        # ...

An InlineLayout would have the same width computation. And each layout object starts at its parent’s left edge:

class BlockLayout:
    def layout(self):
        # ...
        self.x = self.parent.x
        # ...

The vertical position of a layout object depends on the position and height of their previous sibling. If there is no previous sibling, they start at the parent’s top edge:

class BlockLayout:
    def layout(self):
        # ...
        if self.previous:
            self.y = self.previous.y + self.previous.height
        else:
            self.y = self.parent.y
        # ...

These three computations have to go before the recursive call to each child’s layout method. After all, a layout object’s width depends on the parent’s width; so the width must be computed before laying out the children. The position is the same: it depends on both the parent and previous sibling, so the parent has to compute it before recursing, and when recursing it has to lay out the children in order.

Height is the opposite. A BlockLayout should be tall enough to contain all of its children, so its height should be the sum of its children’s heights:

class BlockLayout:
    def layout(self):
        # ...
        self.height = sum([child.height for child in self.children])

Since a BlockLayout’s height depends on the height of its children, its height must be computed after recursing to compute the heights of its children. Getting this dependency order right is crucial: get it wrong, and some layout object will try to read a value that hasn’t been computed yet, and the browser will have a bug.

An InlineLayout computes width, x, and y the same way, but height is a little different: an InlineLayout has to contain all of the text inside it, which means its height must be computed from its y-cursor.

class InlineLayout:
    def layout(self):
        # ...
        self.height = self.cursor_y - self.y

Again, width, x, and y have to be computed before text is laid out, but height has to be computed after. It’s all about that dependency order.

Finally, even DocumentLayout needs some layout code, though since the document always starts in the same place it’s pretty simple:

class DocumentLayout:
    def layout(self):
        # ...
        self.width = WIDTH - 2*HSTEP
        self.x = HSTEP
        self.y = VSTEP
        child.layout()
        self.height = child.height + 2*VSTEP

Note that there’s some padding around the contents—HSTEP on the left and right, and VSTEP above and below. That’s so the text won’t run into the very edge of the window and get cut off.

For all three types of layout object, the order of the steps in the layout method should be the same:

• When layout is called, it first creates a child layout object for each child element.
• Then, layout computes the width, x, and y fields, reading from the parent and previous layout objects.
• Next, the child layout nodes are recursively laid out by calling their layout methods.
• Finally, layout computes the height field, reading from the child layout objects.

Sticking to this order is necessary to satisfy the dependencies between size and position fields; Chapter 10 will explore this topic in more detail.

Using tree-based layout

Now that our layout objects have size and position information, our browser should use that information to render the page itself. First, we need to run layout in the browser’s load method:

class Browser:
    def load(self, url):
        headers, body = request(url)
        self.nodes = HTMLParser(body).parse()
        self.document = DocumentLayout(self.nodes)
        self.document.layout()

Recall that our browser draws a web page by first collecting a display list and then calling paint to draw the things in the list. With tree-based layout, we collect the display list by recursing down the layout tree.

I think it’s most convenient to do that by adding a paint function to each layout object which does the recursion. A neat trick here is to pass the list itself as an argument, and have the recursive function append to that list. For DocumentLayout, which only has one child, the recursion looks like this:

class DocumentLayout:
    def paint(self, display_list):
        self.children[0].paint(display_list)

For BlockLayout, which has multiple children, paint is called on each child:

class BlockLayout:
    def paint(self, display_list):
        for child in self.children:
            child.paint(display_list)

Finally, InlineLayout is already storing things to paint in its display_list variable, so we can copy them over:

class InlineLayout:
    def paint(self, display_list):
        display_list.extend(self.display_list)

Now the browser can use paint to collect its own display_list variable:

class Browser:
    def load(self, url):
        # ...
        self.display_list = []
        self.document.paint(self.display_list)
        self.draw()

Check it out: your browser is now using fancy tree-based layout! I recommend pausing to test and debug. Tree-based layout is powerful but complex, and we’re about to add more features. Stable foundations make for comfortable houses.

Backgrounds

Browsers use the layout tree a lot,For example, in Chapter 7, we’ll use the size and position of each link to figure out which one the user clicked on! and one simple and visually compelling use case is drawing backgrounds.

Backgrounds are rectangles, so our first task is putting rectangles in the display list. Conceptually, the display list contains commands, and we want two types of commands:

class DrawText:
    def __init__(self, x1, y1, text, font):
        self.top = y1
        self.left = x1
        self.text = text
        self.font = font
    
class DrawRect:
    def __init__(self, x1, y1, x2, y2, color):
        self.top = y1
        self.left = x1
        self.bottom = y2
        self.right = x2
        self.color = color

Now InlineLayout must add DrawText objects to the display list:Why not change the display_list field inside an InlineLayout to contain DrawText commands directly? You could, but it would be a bit harder to refactor later.

class InlineLayout:
    def paint(self, display_list):
        for x, y, word, font in self.display_list:
            display_list.append(DrawText(x, y, word, font))

But it can also add DrawRect commands for backgrounds. Let’s add a gray background to pre tags (which are used for code examples):

class InlineLayout:
    def paint(self, display_list):
        if isinstance(self.node, Element) and self.node.tag == "pre":
            x2, y2 = self.x + self.width, self.y + self.height
            rect = DrawRect(self.x, self.y, x2, y2, "gray")
            display_list.append(rect)
        # ...

Make sure this code comes before the loop that adds DrawText objects: the background has to be drawn below and therefore before the text inside the source block.

With the display list filled out, we need the paint method to run each graphics command. Let’s add an execute method for this. On DrawText it calls create_text:

class DrawText:
    def execute(self, scroll, canvas):
        canvas.create_text(
            self.left, self.top - scroll,
            text=self.text,
            font=self.font,
            anchor='nw',
        )

Note that execute takes the scroll amount as a parameter; this way, each graphics command does the relevant coordinate conversion itself. DrawRect does the same with create_rectangle:

class DrawRect:
    def execute(self, scroll, canvas):
        canvas.create_rectangle(
            self.left, self.top - scroll,
            self.right, self.bottom - scroll,
            width=0,
            fill=self.color,
        )

By default, create_rectangle draws a one-pixel black border, which for backgrounds we don’t want, so make sure to pass width = 0:

We still want to skip offscreen graphics commands, so let’s add a bottom field to DrawText so we know when to skip those:

def __init__(self, x1, y1, text, font):
    # ...
    self.bottom = y1 + font.metrics("linespace")

The browser’s draw method now just uses top and bottom to decide which commands to execute:

def draw(self):
    self.canvas.delete("all")
    for cmd in self.display_list:
        if cmd.top > self.scroll + HEIGHT: continue
        if cmd.bottom < self.scroll: continue
        cmd.execute(self.scroll, self.canvas)

Try your browser on a page—maybe this one—with code snippets on it. You should see each code snippet set off with a gray background.

Here’s one more cute benefit of tree-based layout. Thanks to tree-based layout we now record the height of the whole page. The browser can use that to avoid scrolling past the bottom of the page:

def scrolldown(self, e):
    max_y = self.document.height - HEIGHT
    self.scroll = min(self.scroll + SCROLL_STEP, max_y)
    self.draw()

So those are the basics of tree-based layout! In fact, as we’ll see in the next two chapters, this is just part of the layout tree’s role in the browser. But before we get to that, we need to add some styling capabilities to our browser.

Summary

This chapter was a dramatic rewrite of your browser’s layout engine:

• Layout is now tree-based and produces a layout tree
• Each node in the tree has one of two different layout modes
• Layout computes a size and position for each layout object
• The display list now contains generic commands
• Plus, source code snippets now have backgrounds

Tree-based layout makes it possible to dramatically expand our browser’s styling capabilities. We’ll work on that in the next chapter.

Outline

The complete set of functions, classes, and methods in our browser should look something like this:

Exercises

Links Bar: At the top and bottom of each chapter of this book is a gray bar naming the chapter and offering back and forward links. It is enclosed in a <nav class="links"> tag. Have your browser give this links bar the light gray background a real browser would.

Hidden Head: There’s a good chance your browser is still showing scripts, styles, and page titles at the top of every page you visit. Make it so that the <head> element and its contents are never displayed. Those elements should still be in the HTML tree, but not in the layout tree.

Bullets: Add bullets to list items, which in HTML are <li> tags. You can make them little squares, located to the left of the list item itself. Also indent <li> elements so the text inside the element is to the right of the bullet point.

Scrollbar: At the right edge of the screen, draw a blue, rectangular scrollbar. The ratio of its height to the screen height should be the same as the ratio of the screen height to the document height, and its location should reflect the position of the screen within the document. Hide the scrollbar if the whole document fits onscreen.

Table of Contents: This book has a table of contents at the top of each chapter, enclosed in a <nav id="toc"> tag, which contains a list of links. Add the text “Table of Contents”, with a gray background, above that list. Don’t modify the lexer or parser.

Anonymous block boxes: Sometimes, an element has a mix of text-like and container-like children. For example, in this HTML,

<div><i>Hello, </i><b>world!</b><p>So it began...</p></div>

the <div> element has three children: the <i>, <b>, and <p> elements. The first two are text-like; the last is container-like. This is supposed to look like two paragraphs, one for the <i> and <b> and the second for the <p>. Make your browser do that. Specifically, modify InlineLayout so it can be passed a sequence of sibling nodes, instead of a single node. Then, modify the algorithm that constructs the layout tree so that any sequence of text-like elements gets made into a single InlineLayout.

Run-ins: A “run-in heading” is a heading that is drawn as part of the next paragraph’s text.The exercise names in this section could be considered run-in headings. But since browser support for the display: run-in property is poor, this book actually doesn’t use it; the headings are actually embedded in the next paragraph. Modify your browser to render <h6> elements as run-in headings. You’ll need to implement the previous exercise on anonymous block boxes, and then add a special case for <h6> elements.

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