Re: inputmode attribute

FYI, these days discussion on GitHub issues could get more attention than
in this mailing list,
and I found existing one at the whatwg html tracker
https://github.com/whatwg/html/issues/1626

On Mon, Jul 31, 2017 at 10:41 PM, Lars Solberg <lars.solberg@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Correct. Fields viewed on mobile should be able to give hints about which
> keyboard to use, without forcing the datatype.
> Mobile could use the hinted keyboard as default, but still give the user a
> way to switch the layout.
>
> The problem is basically that "there are no current way using a numeric
> pad on keyboard, without giving (often) too much constraints on the field."
>
> The spec contains all sorts of things nowadays, but it feels like the some
> of the most basics have been forgotten :)
>
> On Mon, Jul 31, 2017 at 5:06 AM, Takayoshi Kochi <kochi@google.com> wrote:
>
>> So you want a more hint-like attribute, rather than enforcement of the
>> type, right?
>> I think "inputmode" attribute originally introduced for such purpose, but
>> has not gained
>> enough interest from browser implementors, unfortunately.
>>
>> The original one was introduced before the mobile-first era, so we may
>> reconsider the spec
>> from the current architecture of input for modern mobile environment.
>>
>> A bit of history...
>>
>> As far as I know, once Chrome tried to implement some of Japanese
>> IME-related modes in inputmode,
>> but the effort was abandoned due to low interest and feasibility for
>> non-Windows platforms, especially
>> mobile platforms.
>> https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=248482
>> https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=244688
>> https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=642800
>> At least we should remove the script-specific types (e.g. japanese-kana)
>> from the spec.
>>
>> Other modes have overlap with type= attribute (e.g. type=number), and
>> type= is currently
>> the preferred way of specifying the type of the input (also the spec is
>> saying so).
>> IIUC Android Chrome implements type=number.
>>
>> I'd think this kind of modality should not be specified via CSS, as it
>> has nothing to do with styles.
>>
>> (FYI, IME related mode settings were available in IE and Firefox via CSS.
>> https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/ime-mode
>> https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=4490
>> which I think, is a wrong approach, either)
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Jul 28, 2017 at 5:56 PM, Lars Solberg <lars.solberg@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hello
>>>
>>> I am trying to figure out the story of the inputmode attribute for the
>>> <input> element.
>>> I'm seeing discussions about that attribute long back (5-10 years), and
>>> based on https://caniuse.com/#feat=input-inputmode, it was supported
>>> back in firefox 17-20.
>>>
>>> But what happened to it? Why are no browsers adopting it? Giving hints
>>> to mobile platforms about which keyboardtype to use seams very powerful.
>>> Using type=number sets a lot of other limitations on the field.
>>>
>>> The best way would be to set hints like this using css.
>>>
>>> Is there a work in progress here?
>>> Is, and will it be type=inputmode that is the way to do this, including
>>> it's limitations?
>>> Will there be a bigger standard for controlling things like this on
>>> mobile devices, as it becomes more popular?
>>>
>>> Best regards
>>>   Lars
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Takayoshi Kochi
>>
>
>


-- 
Takayoshi Kochi