Re: [webcomponents]: Making Shadow DOM Subtrees Traversable

<scott.gonzalez@gmail.com> wrote:

> As for the <input type="date"> example: This isn't arbitrary 3rd party
> scripts coming and crippling your DOM in unexpected ways. This is you as
> the developer of the site saying the native experience is too limiting and
> then opting in to a different UI. This is also not global, change the world
> behavior, this is on a per-element basis.
>

Something like this is an example of where judicious breaking of the seals
can make a big difference. It would be a shame if all sorts of useful
components were trapped in opaque boxes with no way for the enclosing pages
to enhance or examine them. That seems counter to what the web has been
about since its inception, awesome stuff that forms the kernel of all sorts
of innovative mashups.

Another example, let's say Disqus created a webcomponent to show
discussions related to content. I want to use that on my page but enhance
it with a bozo/spam filter, fully understanding that it will require
knowledge of Disqus webcomponent internals. Yes it may break. But my
alternative is to make a feature request to Disqus, hope they approve, and
wait for an implementation if it's even *possible*. For example, I may be
using information only I have to do the filtering, and I don't want to
share it with Disqus.

So sure, put up a big warning that says "CAUTION: The edges of this sign
are sharp!" but don't prevent people from getting to the internals of
webcomponents at all. That puts the web at the mercy of the implementer
almost as surely as closed source does.