

Modal performance in browsers, or, exploiting z-index - mwsherman
http://clipperhouse.com/blog/post/Modal-performance-in-browsers-or-exploiting-z-index.aspx

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DanielStraight
It seems to me that the best thing for HTML would not be to add a bunch of new
features based on current design, but to add lower-level primitives that can
be used to do the same thing efficiently. If the web was based on GDI code
instead of HTML, then we wouldn't even be having this discussion. You could do
anything you wanted in terms of design. I'm not saying the web should be based
on GDI, I'm saying given designers low-level access may be better than adding
high level features.

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daleharvey
I dont think this is true

there is redraw and reflow, absolutely positioned elements trigger redraw, but
should only trigger reflow on child elements, z-index has no effect on
positioning, it only cares during redraw stage (which is as far as I
understand, relatively lightweight compared to reflow)

