Re: Public feedback on HTML5 video

Philip Jägenstedt, Tue, 29 Dec 2009 09:01:50 +0100:
> On Tue, 29 Dec 2009 08:52:04 +0100, Philip Jägenstedt 
>> On Tue, 29 Dec 2009 00:44:50 +0100, Edward O'Connor 


>>>   1. Do whatever the browser thinks best. [no autobuffer attribute]
>>>   2. Please autobuffer. [autobuffer="on"]
>>>   3. Please *don't* autobuffer. [autobuffer="off"]

>> I do not support making this distinction, because as an implementor 
>> I cannot act any differently in case 1 and 3. Any browser that has 
>> gone to the effort of being conservative with network resources will 
>> want that behavior even if autobuffer="off" is given. Unless there 
>> is some browser
> 
> Typo... even if autobuffer="off" is *not* given
> 
>> vendor who can see themselves acting differently in case 1 and 3, 
>> this just adds a bit of complexity and the illusion of control on 
>> part of the author where there is in fact none.

According to Tab: [1]

]]It's up to the UA.  The user may want to autobuffer stuff anyway, for
instance.  Or the browser might be able to tell that the bandwidth is
good, and autobuffer videos when they're the only video on the page
(avoiding the scenario when they start autobuffering a video gallery
page and cripple your connection).  Whatever turns out is best for the
user.  The presence or absence of @autobuffer is just a suggestion
from the author.[[

If Tab's interpretation of what absence of boolean @autobuffer means, 
is valid, then a use case for autobuffer="no" could be someone that is 
offering one or several videos on a cheap web host - with a bandwidth 
serving limit - and who, for everything in the world, do not want users 
to actually load any of them unless when they actively click a 
particular video. I believe that autobuffer="no" then should be able 
solve that problem.

Again, provided Tab's interpretation is correct, then autobuffer="no" 
would not be an illusion, unless user agents tended to ignore it - and 
thus autobuffer - anyhow.

It seems logical to me that user and user agents may choose to not 
autobuffer - and thus that this should be permitted - even if 
autobuffer is set to "yes". But that overriding autobuffer="no" should 
be banned. If you think that absence of @autobuffer (in any shape or 
form) should be equal to banning autobuffering for that element, then 
a) Tab is wrong and b) I agree that they are equal ...

Perhaps we need 3 attribute values: autobuffer="on|off|auto", where 
"auto" is the default.

[1] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2009Dec/0458

-- 
leif halvard silli

Received on Tuesday, 29 December 2009 10:15:17 UTC