- From: Robin Berjon <robin@berjon.com>
- Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2011 11:46:59 +0100
- To: Deepanshu gautam <deepanshu.gautam@huawei.com>
- Cc: "public-device-apis@w3.org public-device-apis@w3.org" <public-device-apis@w3.org>
On Nov 23, 2011, at 10:18 , Deepanshu gautam wrote: > [DG] I'm not proposing to enable Vibration automatically (without user consent). It is just to allow Web Apps to know whether Vibrator is OFF and then notify UA. Which may then ask user to switch it on (however, that part is out-of-scope here). This will avoid UA/OS/device to keep monitoring if some unavailable functionality is being used and then notify user. The better way would be for *app* to say "Hey I want to use XXX would you like to switch it on" and user may decide to switch it on for that particular session, forever, forever for that particular application etc. I think that that's precisely what I'm not seeing consensus on (and personally disagree with). Your argument is essentially that you don't trust the UA to do the right thing: you want to vibrate, you don't know if you can so you try it, the UA can't but doesn't tell the user. The counter-argument is that we don't trust the developers to do the right thing: the developer notices that vibration is off and blocks the execution of the app until it is turned on. All this distrust is good :) It's the stuff that makes us choose the right checks and balances. Arguments in favour of leaving it up to the UA are that it's relatively easy to fix a small number of UAs that do it wrong and almost impossible to fix millions of apps. Also, putting it on the UA side means that control is in the user's hands and not the developer's. The Web platform is very different from traditional platforms in at least one very important way. On traditional platforms, developers are kings and get to do pretty much whatever it is they want, no matter what the user thinks. On the Web, developers are always second to users. If I want to use a user style sheet that overrides your design I can. If I want to zoom the font to a level I like I can. If you want to know things about me that I don't wish to tell, I simply don't tell you. If you want access to resources on my device, you need my permission. That's a feature. It requires a change in mindset on the developers' side — but it's a good change. -- Robin Berjon - http://berjon.com/ - @robinberjon
Received on Wednesday, 23 November 2011 10:47:28 UTC