Fwd: [WF2] 6.2. Seeding a form with initial values -- contradiction in algorithm step 5

CC: public-html@w3.org

Forwarding to whatwg@whatwg.org since no discussion happening on this in
HTML WG.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Weston Ruter <westonruter@gmail.com>
Date: Sep 10, 2007 1:23 PM
Subject: [WF2] 6.2. Seeding a form with initial values -- contradiction in
algorithm step 5
To: HTML WG <public-html@w3.org>

I believe there is a contradiction in step 5 of the algorithm defined by Web
Forms 2.0 section 6.2 "Seeding a form with initial values" [1]. In the last
clause of the second paragraph it states that all radio buttons and
checkboxes must be skipped over if they "have the exact name given but have
a value that is not exactly the same as the contents of the field element."
However, four paragraphs later it states that checkboxes (and I suppose
radio buttons as well) may be unchecked by means of an empty field element
with a matching name attribute:

> The only values that would have an effect in this example
> are "", which would uncheck the checkbox, and "green",
> which would check the checkbox.

Obviously the non-empty value of an input element (such as "green") is not
exactly the same as the contents of an *empty* field element that has a
matching name. <http://www.w3.org/TR/web-forms-2/#seeding>

Any thoughts?
Weston

[1] http://www.w3.org/TR/web-forms-2/#seeding