Re: [html-media-capture] capture vs. accept

On 7/20/12 2:40 AM, "Josh Soref" <jsoref@rim.com> wrote:

>Tobie wrote:
>> No. accept="image/*" tells you nothing about the desired capture mode,
>> which could be either of camera or filesystem.
>
>That's really an intrusion of the author into user space.

How so? How is that different from a TEXTAREA compared to an
INPUT[type=file][accept="text/plain"]? I haven't heard anyone complain
TEXTAREA's are an intrusion of the author into user space, yet it's
clearly expressing the desire of the author to prefer content written on
the spot rather than picked from the file system.

>UAs are supposed to be Agents of the User, not the Author.

Agreed. Nothing in the spec prevents UAs from providing as many options as
there see fit, including but not limited to access to the camera from a
regular filesystem picker, access to the picture gallery from the camera
UI, etc.

>and yes I know that's what authors want, a nice locked down platform that
>they can abuse / use as a user hostile platform, instead of a user
>friendly platform.

That's not necessarily true. The real reason authors ask for these
features are to improve the user's experience by making sure the operating
system's UI matches the application's context and the user's intent.

>That doesn't make it right. Nor does that mean we should do it. And just
>because some user agent wasn't sufficiently creative about designing a UI
>element doesn't mean we need to perpetuate that mistake.

Consider the following scenarios:

1. John wants to sell furniture he owns online. He previously took
pictures with his camera and uploads them as required. He then realizes he
forgot to take a picture of the kitchen table. He just switches to the
camera mode of the file picker and snatches a picture. Here,
accept="image/*" makes perfect sense.

2. Anna is hiking at sunset. The scenery is beautiful and she wants to
share it with her family. She navigates to her preferred camera web app
and snatches a picture. Here, capture=camera makes perfect sense.

Best,

--tobie

Received on Friday, 20 July 2012 07:45:03 UTC