Urgent Need for a Standardized Multi-Select Component

Dear HTML Working Group,

It is astonishing that *after more than two decades of web evolution*,
developers still do not have access to a standardized, modern, and
accessible multi-select component in HTML.

The existing <select multiple> element is outdated, unintuitive, and
inadequate for real-world needs. For years, developers have been forced to
rely on third-party libraries such as Tom Select
<https://tom-select.js.org/>, Select2, Chosen, and countless others -
reimplementing the same functionality over and over. This situation has
persisted for far too long, creating unnecessary fragmentation,
inconsistent user experiences, and repeated accessibility shortcomings
across the web.

The demand for a native solution is undeniable:

   - Every major design system and framework has built its own version of a
   searchable, taggable, accessible multi-select.
   - External libraries collectively serve millions of developers, yet all
   are workarounds for a missing standard.
   - Accessibility remains inconsistent, despite decades of awareness,
   because the burden falls on third-party solutions rather than being
   addressed at the platform level.

How many years must pass before the web platform offers such a fundamental
and widely needed component? The absence of a proper multi-select
undermines the very goals of interoperability, inclusivity, and
accessibility that the W3C stands for.

*I urge the consortium to take immediate steps toward defining and
implementing a modern multi-select component as part of the web platform*.
The community has already proven its necessity through countless parallel
efforts. It is time for the standard itself to meet this longstanding
demand.

Respectfully, but firmly,

Kristjan Kure

<https://tom-select.js.org/>