[whatwg] input type="country"?

[Matthew Raymond]

Martijn wrote:
> On 8/23/06, David Håsäther <hasather at gmail.com> wrote:
>> But what if you use a browser with an old list, and your contry isn't
>> listed. Or are you proposing that browsers download a list every time?
> 
> That could happen nowadays also, that a country isn't listed in the
> select control. Indeed, I would think that the browser would keep up
> with a list of available countries.

   Screw the browser! What happens if the _SERVER_ doesn't have a
specific country name, or expects a name you don't use. You're assuming
that the country is just a string of text that's stored on the server in
the same way someone's name is, but that may not be the case.

   Even if you were to keep your country list on the server in synch
with the list on a browser, which browser do you synchronize with? Are
all the browser vendors supposed to form a central authority to decide
what all the country names are? Do they maintain different lists for
different locales? Even if they did maintain different lists for
different locales, the server would have to be notified as to which
locale you're using.

   Also, how would you refit the old sites to the new system? Are you
going to rewrite all your Perl scripting to use the new widget?

   This whole thing sounds about as fun to spec and implement as
whacking yourself repeatedly between the eyes with a ball pin hammer.