: Why does the stroke position have to be 'center' on an open path in vector programs? I've noticed that in every vector drawing program I've used, the options to place strokes 'inside' or 'outside'

@Yeniel278

What is outside of a open path? What is inside? Open paths do not have a very well defined outside and inside. Anyway mimicking css is not in the highest priority agenda in these apps.

Theres no reason why we could not define a inside and outside for open paths. Its just that most users would, possibly, find it confusing. Atleast I usualy get blank stares when I propose that a curve has direction. So yes this is technically possible, one could allways offset outside on the clockwise side of the path observed from path beginning. The path would arbitrarily flip in Illustrator though as appending the path flips the direction. But this is just a app feature it wouldnt need to do this. It could be done, it would be useful yes.

There are more easier ways to emulate css though. Its possibld to make a css box emulator directly. These exist ive seen it some for illustrator.

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@Ann6370331

If a path is not closed, can it be said to have an inside?

Or more specifically, can a naive algorithm optimized for speed reliably determine the inside of an arbitrarily-shaped open path?

It seems to me that for open paths, "left" and "right" (with node1-node2 determining vector) would be useful and the more general case. Sadly, this does not seem to have been incorporated into Illustrator.

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