[whatwg] a few comments to Webforms 2.0 Call For Comments

[Matthew Thomas]

On 31 Jul, 2004, at 7:00 AM, Matthew Raymond wrote:
> ...
>    I recommend that, for HTML documents with the W2 doctype, there  
> should always be a default option selected, regardless if that default  
> is specified. Therefore, if none of the radio buttons are set, the  
> first radio button in the group would automatically be set. If WF2  
> isn't specified as the doctype, we'll default to HTML 4.01 behavior,  
> even if WF2 markup is used. The WF2 spec should recommend the use of a  
> radio button "Not Specified" for a default value if the user does not  
> wish to select an option.

I like that idea. It seems like a good way of getting out of the  
backward compatibility hole  
<http://listserver.dreamhost.com/pipermail/whatwg-whatwg.org/2004-June/ 
000386.html>.

(In general, expecting all controls to have an indeterminate state is  
unreasonable -- see the second half of  
<http://listserver.dreamhost.com/pipermail/whatwg-whatwg.org/2004-July/ 
001044.html>. If you need to enforce attention that badly, you're  
better to default to an unacceptable value, e.g. <option>I have not  
made a choice yet</option>.)

-- 
Matthew Thomas
http://mpt.net.nz/