[whatwg] What exactly is contentEditable for?

On Tue, 23 Aug 2005, Dimitri Glazkov wrote:
> 
> I was surprised to learn that WF2 spec does not support rich textarea. I 
> still can't figure out why.

Time. It's on the list for WA1/WF3 (although currently contentEditable is 
the way I intend to address the need).


> Again, IMHO, the contentEditable attribute represents a shift of 
> paradigm in Web markup: it suggests that the actual markup of the page 
> could be the target of user manipulation. Prior to it, users were 
> confined to forms elements.

Actually, originally, HTML was supposed to be user editable always. Much 
like in Amaya. So contentEditable is more of a compromise between the 
original intent of the Web and the "don't let them modify it!" attitude 
that has grown since.


(I'll look into what you suggested about new markup for saving, etc.)

-- 
Ian Hickson               U+1047E                )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
http://ln.hixie.ch/       U+263A                /,   _.. \   _\  ;`._ ,.
Things that are impossible just take longer.   `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'

Received on Tuesday, 23 August 2005 17:20:46 UTC