This will not work if the repelling object is placed in the midle of the text (i.e. if it splits lines on two).In order to let text flow around images and let the text be flexible and editable you can use the "Sliced and Diced Sandbags" technique.
Besides, this method is extremely complicated with complex shapes (not rectangles) especially if you try to implement it manually.
There are also some problems with browser compatibility in some cases. And the produced result is generally a poor code. So I wouldn't suggest to use it except for extreme cases.
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