[whatwg] LABEL and radio/checkbox onclick

[Ian Hickson]

On Wed, 18 Aug 2004, Matthew Raymond wrote:
> > 
> >   <p>The <code>label</code> element's exact default behaviour must
> >   match the platform's label behaviour. For example. on platforms
> >   where clicking a checkbox label checks the checkbox, clicking a
> >   <code>label</code> element must cause a <code>click</code> event to
> >   be synthesised and fired at the checkbox.</p>
> 
>    There are a few problems with this:
> 
> 1) When HTML 4.01 markup is transferred to a WF2 document, the <label>
> behavior changes for the same markup with absolutely NO WAY TO RECOVER THE
> PREVIOUS BEHAVIOR.

The clause above does not contradict the HTML4 clause, so this isn't the 
case.


> 2) The webmaster cannot reliably predict the behavior of <label> on a 
> platform without extensive knowledge of that platform. Therefore, if the 
> webmaster is targeting a specific set of operating systems and browsers, 
> he must have knowledge of how the native UI handles labels for each 
> control he uses, rather than simply depending on the HTML 4.01 specified 
> behavior.

This makes no sense to me. If he is targetting a specific set of operating 
systems, then the WF2-mandated behaviour is better, since it means the 
author doesn't have to worry about sniffing for the platform and doing the 
right thing on each platform.


> 3) You're providing no method of detecting whether input is passed to 
> the associated control. Therefore, is there not a risk of multiple 
> events being fired at the control when Javascript is introduced to make 
> up for the lack of event passing on some platforms?

I don't think mulitple events would be a problem here.


> 4) There's absolutely no way to know how <label> should behave when 
> associated with an <object> element.

I think we should say that <object> cannot be a form control any more. 
Does anyone know of a case where it was made into a form control?

-- 
Ian Hickson               U+1047E                )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
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