[Bug 11347] Submitting a partially downloaded form

http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=11347

--- Comment #6 from Ed Avis <eda@waniasset.com> 2011-01-04 12:09:43 UTC ---
>When the document is only partially loaded,
>it's treated mostly the same as if the rest of the document just didn't exist. 

Thanks for clarifying that.  So, then, the semantics of a partially downloaded
form are clear: make it the same as a completed form with the same content.  I
think this resolves the original bug report - what follows is discussion for
those who are interested.

Is the current semantics a sensible behaviour?  In my view, it is not: it is
not helpful for user agents to submit incomplete data when the Enter key is
pressed.  There is a workaround by adding a hidden element and checking for it,
but this seems a lot of complication for what is surely the common case.  I
would have chosen safety by default (don't submit the form until it is
complete, at least by the measure used in HTML 4 and earlier of a closing
</form>) with a possible way to choose the unsafe behaviour of 'just submit
whatever is there' if the web site author really wants it.

So, if I were granted a wish for this, I would have something like

<form ready-to-submit=
   "end-of-document | end-of-element | submit-button-seen | no | yes" >

with the default value being the most conservative, 'end-of-document', meaning
do not allow the form to be submitted until the whole page has been downloaded.
 The value 'no' is for use with Javascript: when the script has done its stuff
it can mark the form as submittable.

However I guess it is too late to submit such a suggestion for HTML 5?

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Received on Tuesday, 4 January 2011 12:09:46 UTC