RE: Text input with no submit

We used to run into a number of sites with the ISINDEX element
http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/interact/forms.html#edef-ISINDEX

ISINDEX is deprecated in HTML4, and the recommended example is to use a form
with no submit button.

Default behaviour is that the enter press sends the data. This is no
different than the "default action" on enter press if there were a submit
button.

In webspeak, we have taken to actually generating for the user a submit
button when none is specified.


>
> Seems to me that the Submit button is a artifact of CGI
> programming.  There
> are many ways to get data to a server.  Why is this a problem?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Denis Anson [mailto:danson@miseri.edu]
> Sent: Wednesday, September 02, 1998 11:34 AM
> To: 'James Thatcher'; w3c-wai-ua@w3.org
> Subject: RE: Text input with no submit
>
>
> Jim,
>
> I think one of the cruel realities of the Web is that it is the ultimate
> democratic environment, where anyone with access to an ISP can post pages.
> As a result, a lot of the people posting pages simply don't know what they
> are doing, and don't understand why what they do doesn't work.
>
> Obviously, text input with no way to submit isn't good design
> (unless there
> was a magic way to make things happen).  But there are a lot of bad
> designers out there.
>
> When we talk about web accessibility, we cannot make design coercive.  At
> best, we can suggest ways to make accessible design as easy (or nearly so)
> as inaccessible design.  As "Lint" like tools become more common, perhaps
> the design issues will take care of themselves, but I am not sanguine on
> that topic.
>
> Denis
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: w3c-wai-ua-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-ua-request@w3.org]On
> Behalf Of James Thatcher
> Sent: Wednesday, September 02, 1998 11:14 AM
> To: w3c-wai-ua@w3.org
> Subject: Text input with no submit
>
>
> I found sitew with a search text input field and no submit button. I can
> find
> no reference in either author guidelines or user agent guidelines
> about this
> situation. Any comments, both on user agent and authoring.
>
> Jim Thatcher
> IBM Special Needs
> http://www.ibm.com/sns
> 512-838-0432
> thatch@us.ibm.com
>
>

Received on Wednesday, 2 September 1998 18:19:53 UTC