[whatwg] Suggested changes to Web Forms 2.0, 2004-07-01 working

[Ian Hickson]

On Thu, 8 Jul 2004, Matthew Raymond wrote:
>>
>> I don't normally see many companies using a text box for date input,
>> and I couldn't even find one in a quick search, certainly none of the
>> airlines, or banking systems I use regularly do it.
>
> Lexmark uses it in its job application forms.

Fifteen minutes with Google:

Open text box date inputs (including month/year expiry date inputs):
  http://literaryconferences.britishcouncil.org/update/
  http://portal.eatonweb.com/add.php
  http://thesumners.com/sumners/submit.html
  http://tropis2005.conferences.gr/index.php?id=969
  http://www.bjhc.co.uk/jobs/advertbookingform.htm
  http://www.colchestersd.k12.vt.us/Cafe/catering_form.htm
  http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/spills/forms/drillform.htm
  http://www.evickery.com/stagnesweddings/Wedding%20Form.htm
  http://www.hawkesbaynz.com/events/add/
  http://www.hr.columbia.edu/hr/html/transferapplication.html
  http://www.jazzworlddatabase.com/register/register.asp
  http://www.kangas.net/form1.htm
  http://www.lagcc.cuny.edu/events/addeditguest.asp
  http://www.lakemac.com.au/events_add.asp
  http://www.marstonhotels.com/cgi/apply.pl
  http://www.ohiodominican.edu/alumni/Submitnews.shtml
  http://www.otpco.com/CommunityEvent/CommunityEventSubmit.asp
  http://www.oucom.ohiou.edu/housing/submit.htm
  http://www.parks-sa.co.za/tourism/booking_methods/KNP_reservations/shimuwinireservations.htm
  http://www.parsac.org/html/videoreq1.htm
  http://www.reikiwithtrust.com/white_treatment_request_form.htm
  http://www.rivmediagroup.com.au/classifieds/submit/submit.asp
  http://www.savethehenharrier.com/(2nfyaiyzxf24p24514ribima)/GalleryForm.aspx
  http://www.shgjobs.co.uk/forms/overseas_hr_form.html
  http://www.stanfordalumni.org/learningtravel/sierra/sierra-center/shuttle.html
  http://www.sunairexpress.com/europe/db/fltrep_form.html
  http://www.unixofficeequipment.com/rentform.htm
  http://www.waikiki-condos.com/res_formM1.html
  http://www.wcl.american.edu/wcl_events/submit_event.cfm
  https://secure.tisltd.co.uk/enrolment.htm
  https://www.washington.edu/admin/hr/benefits/medres_fellow_ltd/enrollment_form.html

Open text box time inputs:
  http://tropis2005.conferences.gr/index.php?id=969
  http://www.apstrategies.org/Travel/TravelRequest.html
  http://www.colchestersd.k12.vt.us/Cafe/catering_form.htm
  http://www.csindy.com/csindy/listings/
  http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/spills/forms/drillform.htm
  http://www.evickery.com/stagnesweddings/Wedding%20Form.htm
  http://www.hawkesbaynz.com/events/add/
  http://www.otpco.com/CommunityEvent/CommunityEventSubmit.asp
  http://www.reikiwithtrust.com/white_treatment_request_form.htm
  http://www.stanfordalumni.org/learningtravel/sierra/sierra-center/shuttle.html
  http://www.sunairexpress.com/europe/db/fltrep_form.html
  http://www.unixofficeequipment.com/rentform.htm
  http://www.waikiki-condos.com/res_formM1.html
  https://secure.tisltd.co.uk/enrolment.htm

Frankly, the sheer number of different date and time input methods I came
across easily confirms the need for a standard widget date/time set.


> It's the same problem as with phone numbers, social security numbers
> and other formatted numerical date, and it has the same solution:
> post an example format. Example: MM/DD/YYYY. This is common
> throughout the web. I've even seen popup error messages showing
> format examples.

Most (all?) of the examples above are initially empty, so the trick
that someone (you?) mentioned at some point, of doing:

   <input type="date" value="DD/MM/YYYY" ...>

...would work fine. For more sophisticated apps, JavaScript can be used
to insert the example in legacy UAs. (Several of the forms above don't
even have an example at all, so it's not even critical that example text
be included.)

-- 
Ian Hickson               U+1047E                )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
http://ln.hixie.ch/       U+263A                /,   _.. \   _\  ;`._ ,.
Things that are impossible just take longer.   `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'