[whatwg] Pattern Hint

[Matthew Raymond]

Ian Hickson wrote:
> Actually, the way the spec is written now, the UA _can_ assume that the 
> "title" attribute is going to help. In fact it is encouraged.
> 
> Assume that your proposal ("hint") is spelt "title" and implement it like 
> that. (Including the little button you wanted for "hint"). That is the 
> intent of the spec at the moment.

   There is a certain presumption that the author doesn't want to use
|title| for any other purpose than providing input hints. This is
potentially erroneous. For instance, the |title| may describe the
purpose of the input rather than the input pattern. If someone is
inputting a credit card number, it may be to hold a reservation rather
than make payment, and the author may wish to communicate that via a
tooltip. By making the |title| the semantic method of providing pattern
hints, you block the web author from using tooltips for any other
purpose, and that's even assuming the user agent won't treat |title| as
a special case when applied to form controls.