[whatwg] api for fullscreen()

2009/12/16 Ian Fette (????????) <ifette at google.com>:
> I think what I've heard from application developers over and over again is
> that, while the UA may provide some way to go into full screen from in the
> browser chrome, it is much more discoverable when that capability exists
> from within the content area (e.g. people are used to clicking on the full
> screen button in YouTube, and when you take that away users can no longer
> figure out how to go full screen).
> Obviously there are security considerations re: UI spoofing, but I'm
> beginning to wonder how much we should beat ourselves over this. If there
> are simple things that we can do to improve upon the model Flash uses (e.g.
> don't have a translucent overlay but instead use an opaque overlay, or use
> an overlay that doesn't go away until the user dismisses it, etc) without
> totally killing current use cases and discoverability, then let's consider
> that. Overall though, it feels like we are burying our head in the sand a
> bit by saying "Well, as long as HTML doesn't provide a way to go full
> screen, the users are safe and it's not *our* fault if anything bad
> happens," when the reality is that Flash is installed on 98-99% of all
> machines out there and anyone who is really trying to phish people using
> this method could easily use flash instead of whatever we provide. (And yes
> I'm aware people can turn off flash, but those users sophisticated enough to
> use noflash can probably figure out if they are in full-screen mode or not.)
> -Ian

In addition to UI spoofing there is also the "annoying websites"
factor. There is today API for pages to resize the browser window,
which I know that some pages abuse to resize the browser window to be
as big as possible. This API is one of very few that Firefox has
specific API to turn off, because its one of the APIs that annoy users
the most.

As for flash going full screen. I heard something regarding that while
in full screen mode flash disables certain capabilities, in order to
reduce the risk of spoofing. Such as the ability to receive keyboard
events. Haven't investigated this at all though.

I'm also not sure what you mean by "can probably figure out if they
are in full-screen mode or not". How would you figure this out? Other
than by installing a non-standard skin for your desktop or browser?

/ Jonas

Received on Wednesday, 16 December 2009 22:55:12 UTC