I've been trying to wrap my head around why the W3C decided that absolutely positioned elements should be relative to the nearest positioned ancestor instead of just being relative to the parent element, regardless of whether it's positioned or not. It feels a bit random to me. I've heard people say that this setup helps connect an element to a sub-element that might be positioned outside it, like a button opening a dropdown menu. But that doesn't seem like a strong enough reason, since you could still achieve that with absolute positioning. Is there a scenario that makes this design necessary that I'm overlooking? I've found some discussions around this, but many seem to conclude that it's unclear or just how the spec is written.
2 Answers
I think the design choice was made so developers aren’t limited to the immediate parent. Sometimes, more external relationships are necessary in complex layouts. Even if it seems arbitrary, it can be very effective for structuring layouts in certain ways.
If you absolutely wanted a button in the top-right corner of your div, you can easily do that with this setup. It provides the flexibility to place elements exactly where you want them without being restricted to the parent element's size or position.
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