[bung]

Was just wondering that myself.. why they went with "rule" in `column-rule` and now `row-rule`

[Telemakhos]

It’s the correct term from the technical vocabulary of book layout and printing. A rule is a line separating things on a page, while a border is a box.[0]. While the term originates in book printing shops, native English speakers would recognize it most easily from the terms “standard ruled” and “college ruled” as applied to loose-leaf notebook paper, describing the faint blue, printed horizontal lines providing guidance for straight handwriting.[1]

[0] https://practicaltypography.com/rules-and-borders.html [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruled_paper

[moomin]

I remember this argument from the 90s where large numbers of people were upset at having to learn the world "Font". What it came down to was, either you use the correct existing term, or you create a new term and end up with constant conflict between the two.

These days everyone knows what a font is.

[zarzavat]

While that may be true, I’ll say that as a native English speaker that reading is not the most obvious reading of “row rule”, which to me would be “A determinate method prescribed for performing any operation and producing a certain result.”

Indeed a “CSS rule” is already a thing and it has nothing to do with lines.

[layer8]

While that is right, “divider” or “divider line” are common as well, and easier to search for. Try a search for “rule page layout” or “rule typography” or “rule css”.

Admittedly, we already have <hr> and <table rules="…">.

[krispyfi]

> From Middle English reule, rewle, rule, borrowed from Old French riule, reule, from Latin regula (“straight stick, bar, ruler, pattern”), from regō (“to keep straight, direct, govern, rule”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European h₃réǵeti (“to straighten; right”), from the root h₃reǵ-; see regent. Doublet of rail, regal, regula and rigol.

https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/rule#English

[pacifika]

Thanks that's helpful to know they picked a valid term, but if I'd hold a no-context poll (unless I mention ruler) a significant number of people wouldn't know this.

[Joker_vD]

Couldn't they have at least used the word "ruler" then?

[karlshea]

It should be familiar from the <hr> tag (horizontal rule).

[bfgeek]

Part of the design constraint here is to reuse the existing properties that exist for multi-column layout which have existed for a long time - https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/column-rule

This proposal extends this mechanism to be more general.