[Bug 21851] New: revert removal of text and getCueAsHTML members; address constructor changes

https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=21851

            Bug ID: 21851
           Summary: revert removal of text and getCueAsHTML members;
                    address constructor changes
    Classification: Unclassified
           Product: HTML WG
           Version: unspecified
          Hardware: All
                OS: All
            Status: NEW
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: HTML5 spec
          Assignee: dave.null@w3.org
          Reporter: glenn@skynav.com
        QA Contact: public-html-bugzilla@w3.org
                CC: mike@w3.org, public-html-admin@w3.org,
                    public-html-wg-issue-tracking@w3.org

In [1], the text and getCueAsHTML members were removed from TextTrackCue. In
addition, the previously defined constructor was removed.

The effect of these changes is that:

(1) it is no longer possible to create or add a text track cue to a text track
by programmatic means (JS) when not using VTT;

(2) it is no longer possible to access a text form of the cue by programmatic
means (JS) when not using VTT;

(3) it is no longer possible to access an HTML form of the cue by programmatic
means (JS) when not using VTT;

The first of these points is related to bug 21080, where it was pointed out
that, as previously defined, the TextTrackCue made incorrect assumptions about
use of VTT, and needed to be modified to be more generically specified. An
alternative was also offered there of adding a new operation as follows (to
TextTrack), effectively:

partial interface TextTrack {
  TextTrackCue createCue(float startTime, float endTime, DOMString text)
}

Instead of adopting this proposal, the editor has chosen to remove the
TextTrackCue, thus removing entirely the ability to create a TextTrackCue in
the non-VTT scenarios.

At present, the consumer electronics industry in concert with content service
providers, have already made use of and expect to continue to make use of the
text member of TextTrackCue for accessing non-VTT track information in the form
of text and/or HTML document fragments. For example, see [2]. It is further
expected that getCueAsHTML will be used in non-VTT cases as well, and since its
definition in HTML 5.0 is sufficiently generic to support this use case, then
it should be retained along with the text member.

Accordingly, the change to remove these members should be reverted, and, for
the constructor, either a more generic definition of the constructor should be
provided (that is not dependent on VTT) or the proposal in bug 21080 to add a
createCue member should be adopted.

It should also be noted that the already effected changes [1] effectively
create a backwards incompatible substantive change between HTML 5.0 and HTML
5.1 without any discussion, resolution, or plan for this change.

[1] https://github.com/w3c/html/commit/586ae3996fdce5d9f71cbe57a08759fce7b26d8f
[2] http://www.cablelabs.com/specifications/CL-SP-HTML5-MAP-I02-120510.pdf

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Received on Friday, 26 April 2013 14:30:56 UTC