Re: keybind and softkeytype [Fwd: Requests to HTML4.0 draft]

>(1) access key
>The "accesskey" attribute is very similar to our "keybind"
>attributes.
>
>	<A keybind="a" href=....>(a) answer</A>
>	<A keybind="F1" href=...>Button 1</A>
>        <A keybind="1" href=....>CH1 TBS</A>
>
>We permit special keys F1 - F12 besides the normal ASCII keys.

There are similarities. OK. What are the differences, and are they
sufficient to require the addition of an attribute? In other words, are the
differences more in function, or are they more in syntax?

>(2) softkey type
>In the keyboard-less Internet appliances, the browser usually
>uses a software keyboard. In this case, if some input forms
>accept only numbers, it seems better that a software keyboard
>for inputing numbers is popped up. We introduced the attribute
>"softkeytype" to specify the required input type for <input>
>and <textarea>.
>
>	softkeytype="normal"	- Any characters
>	softkeytype="digit"	- Numbers
>	softkeytype="hira"	- Hiragana(Japanese)
>	softkeytype="kata"	- Katakana(Japanese)
>	softkeytype="upper"	- Upper case
>	softkeytype="lower"	- Lower case

This sounds reasonable to me. After all, keyboard-less devices are becoming
the wave of the future (I think).

>The problem is that more than 20 products using NetFront have been
>put into the market or are going to be shipped;
>Internet-TVs(SHARP, Mitsubishi, NTT(JVC), Matsushita), Internet word
>processors(NEC, SHARP, Fujitsu, CASIO), PDA(Fujitsu, SII), Intranet
>terminal(EPSON), FA terminal(Okuma), SetTopBoxes(many) and etc.
>
>We would be very happy if the name of attribute "keybind" is adopted
>in HTML4.0, and the attribute "softkeytype" is added to the draft.

Which would be more difficult to accomplish (in the case of
accesskey/keybind and if the differences are merely syntactical), to add an
attribute to the spec or to send out a software update for those items
already shipping that will alter the software to produce the appropriate
attribute?

By the same token, the additional attribute softkeytype would need to be
added to the spec, since I don't think there is anything already there that
is designed for this use.

I realize that issuing software updates can be costly (I have _some_
programming in my background), but the net makes it less costly to supply
such updates to the consumer. If the producer maintains a web-site, it's
not that difficult to make sure that the suppliers are notified about the
update and that their customers have access to the update.

Just my .02

Wayne

               Nick: TWayne or Wayne or WayneC
              Email: mailto:twaynec@pacbell.net
          Home Page: http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/6088/
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Received on Thursday, 21 August 1997 14:31:16 UTC