Re: contentEditable

Alexander "The Croll" wrote some time ago about 
a 'CONTENTEDITABLE' attribute type:
 
> RK> Internet Explorer 5.5+ have a block level 
attribute (CONTENTEDITABLE) that
> RK> allows editing HTML in the browser.
> 
> RK> Is this something that is being considered as an 
HTML standard?  Can it be
> RK> :)? Is this the right place for this issue?
> 
> I don't think it is a standard (as you may know)

There is no 'CONTENTEDITABLE' attribute type in any 
public specification.  So this feature is not a standard (noun). 
 However, the commanding market share of Internet 
Explorer means that the feature is standard (adjective).

> [It] is a very useful feature for designers.

Of course it is useful to browse and edit content in a single 
seamless environment.  However, we should not think that 
kludges like a 'CONTENTEDITABLE' attribute type are the 
right way to achieve such an environment.  The issue is properly 
left to user agents, which should make modification of 
documents easy and pervasive.

> If I knew this I would not suffer from
> testing on different screen resolutions.

I do not follow.  How does the ability to edit content with the 
same user agent that browses the content affect the testing 
on various resolutions?

> Are there any other cool features?

Speaking of the Web in general, the putative coolness of a feature 
is inversely propertional to the utility of the feature.  I will leave 
it at that.

-- 
Etan Wexler

Received on Thursday, 24 January 2002 00:17:52 UTC