[Bug 10709] @title should be a required attribute for FRAME and IFRAME in HTML5

http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=10709





--- Comment #3 from Maciej Stachowiak <mjs@apple.com>  2010-09-24 05:47:37 ---
(In reply to comment #2)
> (In reply to comment #1)
> > iframes in particular are often used as part of the UI of a page in a
> > "transparent" way - there's some controls in it that are part of the
> > tab cycle, but the user is generally not made aware of the fact that
> > there even is a subframe. In such a case, it seems like there is no
> > specific need to give a description of the iframe.
> 
> Such "iframe" elements should be given the "seamless" attribute.
> 
> http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/the-iframe-element.html#attr-iframe-seamless
> 
> So long as HTML5 includes authoring requirements, I support requiring "title"
> for "iframe" elements that do not have the "seamless" attribute. It's something
> authors tend not to think about: a validator error would raise awareness of
> this issue, and it's a pretty easy fix for authors to make.

I'm not so sure about this. The sites doing this today do not use @seamless,
and often want the content to fit in a fixed rectangle. Pushing them to use
@seamless has two significant potential downsides:

1) In the long term, if they do not actually desire the layout and styling
effects of @seamless, they will have to go out of their way to reverse them
simply to represent that their iframe is for partition purposes only and does
not have a designated purpose.

2) Currently no browser yet implements @seamless. If the validator started to
require either @seamless or @title, sites could start adding @seamless as a
voodoo talisman, without actually intending any effect other than to silence
the validator. If a significant number of sites start doing this, it will
poison the ability to really implement @seamless; the first browser to do so
would break the Web.

3) Sites could end up being pushed to add @title where it is inappropriate,
causing distracting and unhelpful tooltips in cases where the iframe is purely
an organizational device.

I am particularly concerned about point #2.

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Received on Friday, 24 September 2010 05:47:40 UTC