[whatwg] Input type=date UI discussion

[Matthew Thomas]

Dean Edwards wrote:
>...
> ** The Platform is Important **
> 
> We are taking this into serious consideration when building an IE
> implementation. Where possible we are trying to replicate the look and
> feel of Windows.

That's very good news.

>...
>> - Popup date chooser appearance: Days not in the current month on the
>> day  grid should be either an alternate color or grayed out to aid
>> visual  differentiation.
> 
> We don't display them. Should we?

The native version does. See the "Date-Picker" section of
<http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnwue/html/ch08c.asp>.

Typing a date should be quicker than opening the calendar, in which case
a major reason (perhaps the main reason) for opening the calendar would
be *because* you want to correlate dates with days.

>...
>> in  the input date widget. This value is not free-form editable.
> 
> I disagree quite strongly with this. If we want to enable developers to
> build web applications then rapid data-entry is a must. I'd like to try
> to validate keyboard entry.

Mikko Rantalainen's comments were spot on here -- typing "2005-07-14" or
"2005/7/14" should Just Work (or equivalent depending on the order of
date elements in your Regional Settings, if possible).

>...
>>   - If the date selected in the popup is not valid according to the 
>> field's constraints, the value will revert to the last valid value.
> 
> We will probably disallow the selection of invalid dates. Probably grey
> out the dates that are out of step or out of range.

Good.

>...
>>   - DOWN arrow: Invokes the date chooser popup
> 
> Yes.

That conflicts with the (IMO much more useful) behavior mentioned later:

>...
>>     - Year has focus: UP/DOWN = next/previous year. LEFT/RIGHT = no
>> effect
>>     - Month has focus: UP/DOWN = next/previous month. LEFT/RIGHT = no 
>> effect
>>     - Day has focus: RIGHT/LEFT/UP/DOWN = navigate on day grid
>>     - Ex. Case: Month field has focus, value=December, UP key=
>> increase  year by 1, set month to Jan, set day focus to 1. Month field
>> still has  focus

If you really want to open the popup with the keyboard, you can use the
spacebar. (As I mentioned above, the main reason you should want to do
this with the keyboard is to look at what days fall on which dates, not
for actual selection.)

>...
>> 6. Issues
>> -----------------
>> - Look/Feel: Should popup have a "Current date" button?
>> - Look/Feel: Should popup have a "Reset" button?
> 
> Clutter we decided but it may fit in better with the design you have.

Text fields, menus, radiobuttons etc don't have Reset buttons, so I
don't see why a datepicker should. But text fields do have a shortcut
menu with "Undo" as its first item.

>...
> What side is th dropdown button on in Japan? Seriously, I want to know. :-)

The right <http://images.google.com/images?q=combo.box%20site%3Ajp>. It
should be on the left in Arabic locales, though
<http://www.jasonbock.net/JB/Images/ComboBoxArabicText.jpg>.

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