Re: User understanding of what will be submitted by SUBMIT

Thanks for the message. We were actually expecting text to include in our
forthcoming CR spec, as agreed on March 1st at the Cannes FtF.
http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Forms/Group/2002/f2f-Cannes/minutes.html#topic134

However, let me address your comments here:

> Users need to know, when they are submitting a form, what information they
> are submitting.
...
> The PF group has discussed several possible approaches:
>
> 1. Requiring an explicit reference from each form control to the model
that
> it is associated with. The principle is that this provides unambiguous
> information in the DOM that assistive technologies (and simple adaptation
> techniques) can access. See for example
> http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-forms-editor/2002Feb/0110

This requirement is already the case. If there is only one form, then the
controls default to the only model. If there is more than one form, then the
controls must explicitely reference the model.

> 2. Requiring an explicit container for a form, as in HTML, that does not
> allow other forms to be contained. The principle is that this makes it
very
> easy to identify the things that are being submitted - not requiring real
DOM
> processing. The original proposal was made (Member only - need permission
to
> make it public) in the PF meeting of 19 June 2002 - see logs at
> http://www.w3.org/2002/06/19-pf-irc#T17-03-27

This is also already the case, only maybe it wasn't clear. The form is
actually the model. It identifies explicitely what is to be submitted on the
<submission> element (was previously called <submitInfo>). If there are
several forms, there are several models. If there are several different ways
of submitting a form there are several <submission> elements. The <submit>
form-control binds directly to a <submission> element in the model, so it is
trivial to find out from there what is being submitted. What is not trivial
is to identify what is 'hidden' in old-HTML Forms parlance (i.e. what hasn't
been displayed to the user up to that point), and how to present it all to
the user in an easy-to-understand way (since it is just XML data).

> 3. Placing a conformance requirement on User Agents that they offer the
> possibility of reviewing what information is being provided in a given
form,
> and to "confirm or cancel" the submission. See "doing more" point 3 at
>
> http://www.w3.org/TR/UAAG10-TECHS/guidelines.html#tech-info-form-submit
>
> See also (Member Only)
> http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Member/w3c-wai-pf/2002JanMar/0254

As I said, this is easy to do, though hard to format in a friendly way. So I
think we fulfil all your requirements, and we only need text from you that
satisfies what you think needs to be said.

Best wishes,

Steven

Received on Wednesday, 26 June 2002 09:30:29 UTC