RE: recommendation for improvement to the html5 specification

Given the short life of the current HTML WG I recommend that you take this suggestion to the Web Incubator Community Group [1].  Most discussion on new HTML proposals is being done at [2].

/paulc
HTML WG co-chair

[1] https://www.w3.org/community/wicg/

[2] http://discourse.wicg.io/


Paul Cotton, Microsoft Canada
17 Eleanor Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K2E 6A3
Tel: (425) 705-9596 Fax: (425) 936-7329

From: Wayne Campbell [mailto:asa.rand@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 17, 2015 12:55 PM
To: public-html@w3.org
Subject: recommendation for improvement to the html5 specification

Hello,
I have been thinking about this for a very long time... years in fact. I have decided that now is the time to make this recommendation.
Element(s) to be amended: INPUT type="button", BUTTON
Behavior modification: addition of attribute to allow for constant-state (always pushed, versus momentarily pushed)
Explanation: In the electronics world there have almost always been two types of push buttons, momentary throw and toggle throw. Momentary throw is the behavior mimicked by HTML buttons since their inception. However, toggle throw (off until pushed on, on until pushed off) has never been implemented as a part of the button syntax.. In earlier versions of html, the toggle throw could be mimicked by using javascript and images. I believe that this method is still usable today, but I rarely see it in use anymore. In more current times, the use of CSS and javascript together are an alternative, but the commonly recommended way to accomplish it uses checkboxes instead of buttons, and css to make the checkbox look like a button. I believe that neither of these methods are preferable. There should be an attribute (such as 'toggle', or a type="toggle" that would cause the button to mimic a toggle throw button. There are many circumstances where this type of behavior is more desirable than the momentary method that exists now.
Submitted for your consideration, and hopefully, approval.

--
Wayne Campbell

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