Re: Suggestion: new feature for select

On Fri, 23 Oct 1998, Jukka Korpela wrote:

> On Wed, 21 Oct 1998, Gregory Martin Pfeil wrote:
> 
> > > 	It seems that there is an obvious missing functionality
> > > with the select tag, the ability for the user to type in
> > > their own entry.  So instead of a pure select, you have
> > > a combination of select and input, where the user can
> > > choose a value, or type in their own.
> > > 	After reading the HTML 4 spec, I don't think
> > > this is currently possible.
> > 
> > Nor should it be possible.  This sounds eerily like the "combo box", a
> > widget with a lot of fundamental flaws.
> 
> To me, it sounds like a special case of an extension of the form
> concept into the direction of dynamics. By "dynamics" I mean simply
> that user's input in a field affects the presence (visibility)
> of other fields. I don't regard this as widgetry. The problem with it
> is that it implies a fundamentally more complex form model and
> conditionality. This comes close to scripting languages, of course,
> but I'd say it still fits into the idea of a hypertext markup
> language.

I think the context-sensitive element is a good idea, but I don't
think that's what the original poster was looking for.  Also,
complexity is not a problem, as long as it doesn't add complexity for
the user, at least IMHO.

> "Extended forms" could probably be defined in a manner which
> allows them to be written so that they degrade gracefully - i.e.,
> on browsers not supporting the extensions, the form would act as
> a normal old-fashioned form with _all_ its fields visible

<SNIPPED>

> Yes, that's the way things can be handled at present. It would be
> more comfortable, and ultimately more _logical_, to be able to
> specify a FORM element where the presence of fields depends on
> user's input for other fields.

Well, the dynamicity that you suggest is already available via
ECMAScript (standard JavaScript).  Depending on what has been selected
in a particular field, the options for other fields can be changed.
It _is_ complex, but the functionality exists.

-- 
Greg Pfeil --- Software Engineer --- (pfeilgm@|http://)technomadic.org
"PERL: The only language that looks the same before and after RSA
 encryption."                                           --Keith Bostic

Received on Friday, 23 October 1998 10:10:44 UTC