[Bug 13942] Allow @autofocus on any element with @tabindex

http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=13942

Leif Halvard Silli <xn--mlform-iua@xn--mlform-iua.no> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
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--- Comment #1 from Leif Halvard Silli <xn--mlform-iua@xn--mlform-iua.no> 2011-08-29 05:14:27 UTC ---
MORE ON THE NEED FOR THIS CHANGE:

It is currently rather common to "imitate frames" by using position:fixed
banners and menus on the top of the page.  However, authors often do not
realize that this simplistic approach typically will cause the banner to hide
content when the user is SPACE key scrolling. 

   Example: http://www.gp.se/ 
               (Swedish news paper with a banner that hides content - 3 to 4
lines -  when SPACE key scrolling.)

Some are are aware of the issue, and creates a banner that is so low that it
doesn't create problems.

   Example: http://www.bt.no/
                 (Norwegian newspage where a fixed menu of low hight  
                 "pops up" when user is scrolling.I)

On the other side, there exists more "true" frame imitations, which however
suffer from the problem of getting focus on the content element.

   Example: http://www.cssplay.co.uk/layouts/fixit.html
                  (A complete frame emulation which suffer from lack of 
interactivity, 
                   since it doesn't give focus to the main content element.)

And lastly, frame pages and iframe pages are still in use - and often
critisized. However, fact is that frame pages and iframe pages are simpler to
give focus to (via Javascript) than it is to give focus to emulated frames:
Firefox has a bug when it comes to setting focus on "imitation frames":
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=682763 And Opera has a similar
bug. These bugs are not present for "real" frame and iframe elements, where it
is easy and safe to set the focus.

     Example  of frame based page: http://di.se
                    ( This page does not seem to manage focus - so it is not an
example in that regard.
                       So this page ony shows that setting focus via javascript
can be a challenge to
                      authors ... Please see the mozilla bug above for test
frame and ifram tests. ) 

SUMMARY:

@autofocus on any element with @tabindex will *not* be able to *automatically*
solve all the above problems. However, I believe it would: make socalled "CSS
frames" (that is: imitated frames) a more serious alternative. We have been
bashing frames for a long time, but when one actually try to do CSS frames,
then one stumbles on some much of the same problems. Permitting @autfocus on
any element with @tabindex, could raise awareness about the correct way as well
as raise the awareness of what it actually takes to imitate frames.

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Received on Monday, 29 August 2011 05:14:36 UTC