[whatwg] Re: autocomplete=off

[Malcolm Rowe]

Jim Ley writes:
> [support for autocomplete=off]
> They don't block IE, yet IE allows you to override this in any number of
> ways.

Agreed. However, by default, both Mozilla and IE honour the autocomplete=off 
attribute. Banks do block clients that don't respect the attribute at all, 
and presumably would also block those that didn't respect it by default. IE 
is also 90%+ of the market, which presumably holds some relevance. 

I guess that they're ok that anyone savvy enough to set a hidden pref (for 
Mozilla; I *don't know* how to disable it in IE), is also someone that 
understands the consequences. 

I do understand your frustration about including this in the spec as a MUST, 
but then having no (strictly) compliant implementations. Whether the ability 
to disable something is strictly equivalent to non-support of an attribute, 
I'm not sure. 

Our choice is either: document existing requirements, meaning that it really 
must be a 'MUST' recommendation; or exclude the attribute completely, 
leaving support as something undocumented, but required in practice, for 
UA's that can store passwords. 

Regards,
Malcolm