Board Thread:New Features/@comment-24739709-20150929231108/@comment-4522253-20161203045352

Emptylord wrote: I think the main problem I have is::"It would not make sense to test for the empty string in the switch statement; e.g., |=(unknown rank), because that is already covered by the default tag."

Because I do not think that a formatting default is the same as a variable default. And this is the logic of your counter-argument to my issue: there is no sense to hiding groups with "default values". You are correct. However, what I want/need is the ability to have default formatting. Therein lies the issue. Formatting a default differently than a non-default value (or layout based thereof) would be against the principles of portability, as content should not define presentation. Rigid grid layouts are not a great fit for Portable Infoboxes as a result, because the content should not be able to dictate the container. However, that's an idealist way of thinking. In more practical terms, grid layouts aren't always great portably because you can't guarantee whatever is reading it can interpret the grid (the term layout is the dead giveaway there). The device on the other end may be a screen reader, or a computer system interpreting the data. Even mobile devices don't do well with grids (even small ones), which is why Navboxes are also difficult to do well on mobile.

Anything having to do with presentation (like layout) should be CSS centric instead. There is a CSS selector called :empty (as in )  that you might try. You can even use a background image on those empty cells to simulate a blank value. In conjunction with show="incomplete" and omitting default values, that may get you closer to what you're looking for.

In other words, replace your placeholder "N/A" with CSS styling, don't use for that, and the effect should be comparable or identical to what you're looking for.