Re: Geolocation API draft updated

Hi Aza,

Thanks for the comments!

On Fri, Jul 4, 2008 at 1:28 AM, Aza <aza@mozilla.com> wrote:
> Hi Andrei,
>
> Excellent work putting together this proposal.
>
> My first concern is the synchronous nature of lastPosition. This is one of
> those cases where API design directly influences the interface. E.g., what
> happens when a website requests geolocation via lastPosition data but does
> not yet have permission? Because this is synchronous, it must block as it
> waits for the permision UI to return. From the Firefox UI standpoint, a
> blocking/modal UI isn't acceptable -- it disrupts the users train of
> thought, forces them to make a decision they may not care about, and doesn't
> work as a security feature since users will habituate to slimply hitting
> "OK"[1].
>

Sure, that's a very good point.

> The solution, I think, is using an asynchronous method for getting the
> lastPosition. That way, waiting for the secuirty UI is exactly like waiting
> for a slow location service. I propose something like: getLastPosition(),
> which takes exactly the same arguments as getCurrentPosition (so either a
> PositionCallback or a PositionOptions). The other method is to add a
> "lastPosition:true" to the PositionOptions and pass that into
> getCurrentPosition.
>

I think there is a third option here:
navigator.geolocation.lastPosition could simply be null until the user
has granted the appropriate permissions. What do you think?

Many thanks,
Andrei

Received on Monday, 7 July 2008 20:03:34 UTC