[whatwg] Suggestion: Implementation of Tabbed Forms

[Matthew Raymond]

Ian Hickson wrote:
>>>At the moment the spec says it would be:
>>>
>>>   <switch>
>>>     <section>
>>>       <h1>Exclusive Section 1</h1>
>>>     </section>
>>>     <section>
>>>       <h1>Exclusive Section 2</h1>
>>>     </section>
>>>   </switch>
>>
>>I presume there is a mechanism for selecting a specific section. If so, 
>>would there be markup that would serve a function similar to a VB 
>>tabstrip? Will there be a markup solution to selecting a section? 
> 
> The above is not a tabbed system, it's just a list of mutually exclusive 
> sections.

    That is hinted at in my previous comments.

 > Tabs are not mutually exclusive, they are just an unordered
> group of related sections that are usually shown such that only one is 
> visible at any one time.

    Why do we need semantic mutual exclusion at all? It seems to be some 
kind of semantic justification of the presentational value of having a 
group of sections where only one can display at a time. On a practical 
level, just how useful is non-presentational mutual exclusion in markup?

> Anyway, the spec currently has a separate section for tabs, which says 
> that the tabbed version of the above would be:
> 
>     <tabbox>
>       <section>
>         <h1>Section 1</h1>
>       </section>
>       <section>
>         <h1>Section 2</h1>
>       </section>
>     </tabbox>

    Quick note: I have to say, I don't like the header tags being 
treated as tag labels. There are cases where we've done something 
similar, but only when absolutely necessary. I'm a little concerned that 
we're getting too clever with our markup rather than having a 
straight-forward standard.

> The name <tabbox> will probably be changed to <group>. See the spec for 
> better examples. (Graceful degradation as your example had is possible 
> too, since non-section elements in the tabbox are ignored.)

    My <tabstrip> is actually more powerful, because it allows tabs to 
be used separately from the sections concept. For instance, the 
<tabstrip> could be used with frames:

<tabstrip>
   <tabs>
     <tab for="section1.htm" target="main">Section 1</tab>
     <tab for="section2.htm" target="main">Section 2</tab>
     <tab for="section3.htm" target="main">Section 3</tab>
   </tabs>
</tabstrip>

    It could also be used with simple Javascript events, so vendors 
could keep tabstrip even if they decide to pass on <section>.

>>>   <page>
>>>   <pages>
>>
>>   I actually kinda like the page metaphor. I presume there is a reason you
>>rejected this? (Other than the obvious fact that the idea of pages within
>>pages of an HTML document is a little strange.)
> 
> Yeah. They're not really pages. You could have several of these at once. 

    What is the motivation for passing on the <deck> of <cards> 
metaphor? To presentational in nature?