Experiment: say the room from the cursor as an inset, and read the row's length only where a slot depends on it

Measured identical to its parent at every phase of the cost rig; kept as
evidence, not proposed for landing.

core/src/ui/holds.rs

@@ -73,6 +73,21 @@ impl Holds {
         }
     }
 
+    /// What a box has to be for a part of it, this many pixels shorter, to
+    /// stay in this range: the range moved by that much, an end that was
+    /// unbounded staying so.
+    pub const fn longer_by(self, px: Px) -> Self {
+        let lo = match self.lo.raw() == Px::MIN.raw() {
+            true => self.lo,
+            false => self.lo.add(px),
+        };
+        let hi = match self.hi.raw() == Px::MAX.raw() {
+            true => self.hi,
+            false => self.hi.add(px),
+        };
+        Self { lo, hi }
+    }
+
     const fn raws(lo: i64, hi: i64) -> Self {
         Self {
             lo: Px::from_raw(narrow(lo)),

core/src/ui/painter.rs

@@ -593,20 +593,29 @@ impl Painter<'_> {
                     result.extent[n] = holds.extent[n];
                     result.extent_len[n] = holds.extent_len[n];
                 }
-                // Its box is a part of this widget's own box, in that box's
-                // own lengths, so what it holds for maps back through that
-                // part into a range on this widget's box. A length it pinned
-                // is this widget's length less the part's pixels where the
-                // part is the whole of the box less pixels, which is the one
-                // shape that inverts exactly; any other part pins this
-                // widget's own length.
-                (Part::Of(span), false) => {
-                    let part_len = span.len();
-                    result.extent[n] = holds.extent[n].through(part_len);
-                    result.extent_len[n] = holds.extent_len[n].map(|pinned| match part_len.rel {
-                        Rel::ONE => pinned - Len::from_parts(Rel::ZERO, part_len.px),
-                        _ => self.extent.axis(axis).len(),
-                    });
+                // Its box is this widget's own less the inset. Where that is
+                // pixels, its box is exactly that many shorter in any window,
+                // so what it holds for is a range on this widget's box moved
+                // by them, and a length it pinned is this widget's length
+                // less them. An inset with a fraction in it is a different
+                // number of pixels in each window, and taking it off a length
+                // rounds once more than taking it off pixels does: there the
+                // child's box is a fixed expression of this one, so this
+                // widget's length is pinned and the range goes on the window
+                // through the child's box, the way a slot's does.
+                (Part::Inset { lead, trail }, false) => {
+                    let inset = lead + trail;
+                    match inset.rel == Rel::ZERO {
+                        true => {
+                            result.extent[n] = holds.extent[n].longer_by(inset.px);
+                            result.extent_len[n] = holds.extent_len[n].map(|pinned| pinned + inset);
+                        }
+                        false => {
+                            result.window[n] = result.window[n]
+                                .and(holds.extent[n].through(extent.axis(axis).len()));
+                            result.extent_len[n] = Some(self.extent.axis(axis).len());
+                        }
+                    }
                 }
                 // Its box is a length this widget decided, from its own
                 // frame or from a sibling's answer: no length of this

core/src/ui/place.rs

@@ -12,12 +12,13 @@ pub enum Part {
     /// here is a fraction of the window and not of the box -- the whole of a
     /// box is [`Self::All`], not a `rel(1.0)` span.
     From(UiSpan),
-    /// A part of the box in its own coordinates, which is what a container
-    /// that insets one speaks: taking eleven pixels off the end needs no
-    /// length, where saying the same thing in window lengths would make the
-    /// container read its own box -- and a box chosen from its own answer
-    /// then feeds back into the answer.
-    Of(UiSpan),
+    /// The box less a window length at each end, which is what a container
+    /// that insets one speaks -- padding, or a row asking a child in the
+    /// room left from its cursor. Neither end names the box's length, so a
+    /// container can say "from here to my end" without reading how long it
+    /// is, and a box chosen from its own answer does not feed back into the
+    /// answer.
+    Inset { lead: Len, trail: Len },
     /// A box of this length, wherever in the parent's box the child's own
     /// alignment puts it, and that same length as its frame. Unlike `From`,
     /// it is a length decided from above rather than a place along a
@@ -32,7 +33,7 @@ impl Part {
         match self {
             Self::All => extent,
             Self::From(span) => UiSpan::new(extent.start + span.start, extent.start + span.end),
-            Self::Of(span) => span.within(&extent),
+            Self::Inset { lead, trail } => UiSpan::new(extent.start + lead, extent.end - trail),
             Self::Sized(len) => {
                 let start = extent.start + (extent.len() - len).scale(align.rel());
                 UiSpan::new(start, start + len)

src/widget/position/pad.rs

@@ -20,10 +20,10 @@ impl Widget for Pad {
         // The two stay distinct -- the box can be narrower still, where a row
         // asked this widget in the room left, and a text wraps at that.
         let inset = |lead: Px, trail: Px| {
-            Place::Within(Part::Of(UiSpan::new(
-                Len::from_parts(Rel::ZERO, lead),
-                Len::from_parts(Rel::ONE, -trail),
-            )))
+            Place::Within(Part::Inset {
+                lead: Len::from_parts(Rel::ZERO, lead),
+                trail: Len::from_parts(Rel::ZERO, trail),
+            })
         };
         let place = [
             inset(self.padding.left, self.padding.right),

src/widget/position/span.rs

@@ -10,13 +10,18 @@ pub struct Span {
 impl Widget for Span {
     fn draw(&mut self, painter: &mut Painter) -> Size {
         let axis = self.dir.axis;
-        // The row: this span's own box, as a length of the frame its children
-        // are laid out against. Its start is nothing's business -- a slot is
-        // a length from it -- so what this reads is the length alone.
-        let far = painter.extent_len(axis);
-        let along = |from: Len, to: Len| match self.dir.sign {
-            Sign::Pos => UiSpan::new(from, to),
-            Sign::Neg => UiSpan::new(far - to, far - from),
+        // The room left from the cursor to the row's end, said without the
+        // row's length: a child measured in it does not make this drawing
+        // depend on how long the row is.
+        let room_from = |cursor: Len| match self.dir.sign {
+            Sign::Pos => Part::Inset {
+                lead: cursor,
+                trail: Len::ZERO,
+            },
+            Sign::Neg => Part::Inset {
+                lead: Len::ZERO,
+                trail: cursor,
+            },
         };
         // Across itself the child sits where its own alignment says, in the
         // whole of the row: a span is what contains its children there, and
@@ -41,7 +46,7 @@ impl Widget for Span {
                     len
                 }
                 None => {
-                    let room = Place::Within(Part::From(along(cursor, far)));
+                    let room = Place::Within(room_from(cursor));
                     let size = painter
                         .widget_at(child, [None; 2], axis.pair(room, across))
                         .size();
@@ -66,9 +71,25 @@ impl Widget for Span {
             |sum, len| sum + *len,
         );
 
+        // The row: this span's own box as a length of the window, read only
+        // where a slot depends on it -- shares divide what is left of it,
+        // and a negative row counts from its end. Reading it pins the
+        // drawing to this length; a positive row of fixed children is not
+        // pinned and holds for any length its children do. Its start is
+        // nothing's business: a slot is a length from it.
+        let far = (total.leftover > Weight::ZERO || self.dir.sign == Sign::Neg)
+            .then(|| painter.extent_len(axis));
+        let along = |from: Len, to: Len| match self.dir.sign {
+            Sign::Pos => UiSpan::new(from, to),
+            Sign::Neg => {
+                let far = far.expect("a negative row reads its length");
+                UiSpan::new(far - to, far - from)
+            }
+        };
         // What is left for the shares to divide: the row less everything
         // fixed, as a length of the frame rather than a number of pixels.
-        let room = far - Len::from_parts(total.rel, total.px);
+        // Nothing where there are no shares, and nothing reads it there.
+        let room = far.map_or(Len::ZERO, |far| far - Len::from_parts(total.rel, total.px));
         // Whether anything is left over is a question in pixels: `rel(0.5)`
         // beside 300 px is full at 600 and overfull at 400. Asked of `room`
         // itself, and answered back through the same expression, so the