Re: [DOM3Events] keydown/keyup asymmetry for held keys (key repeating)

On 06/22/2011 09:33 PM, Ojan Vafai wrote:
> While I agree that having keydown/keyup be symmetric would be a better
> API, every browser currently implements it repeating keydown events.

Yeah, the current implementations are the reason why repeating 
keydown/up has been spec'ed the way they are.

> I
> don't think we could change this without taking a significant
> compatibility hit.
>
> On Wed, Jun 22, 2011 at 11:25 AM, L. David Baron <dbaron@dbaron.org
> <mailto:dbaron@dbaron.org>> wrote:
>
>     http://www.w3.org/TR/DOM-Level-3-Events/#events-keyboardevents says:
>       # Holding down a key must result in the repeating the events
>       # keydown, keypress (when supported by the user agent), and
>       # textinput (when the keypress results in text input) in this
>       # order, at a rate determined by the system configuration.
>
>     I think this is a bad idea because it introduces asymmetry between
>     the keydown and keyup events (which I think authors would reasonably
>     expect to be symmetric) and because it defines keydown in a way that
>     also violates a reasonable expectation -- that it be fired when the
>     key is pressed (just like the existing "mousedown" event).
>
>     Instead, I propose that key repetition be handled by repetitions of
>     the keypress and textinput events, but that the keydown event not
>     repeat.
>
>     Changing this would also require that the keypress event fire for
>     keys that do not produce a character value (e.g., arrow keys,
>     backspace), which
>     http://www.w3.org/TR/DOM-Level-3-Events/#events-keyboard-event-order
>     says is not the case, since authors do need to detect repetitions of
>     those keys.
>
>     -David
>
>     --
>     L. David Baron http://dbaron.org/
>     Mozilla Corporation http://www.mozilla.com/
>
>

Received on Wednesday, 22 June 2011 18:57:27 UTC