[whatwg] The legend element

[Ian Hickson]

On Mon, 12 Oct 2009, Markus Ernst wrote:
> Ian Hickson schrieb:
> > 
> > > Additionnally I want to suggest to make it possible to place the 
> > > legend element outside the fieldset element, providing a "for" 
> > > attribute (just as it is possible to place the label element apart 
> > > from it's form field element).
> > 
> > This is significantly harder to pull off, for the same reason that we 
> > haven't been able to use <legend> for <figure>. I recommend we wait 
> > for the next version of HTML before doing this.
> 
> Would it be possible and easy to allow <label> for fieldsets?

I don't understand the use case.


> This looks somehow consistent to me:
> 
> <h2><label for="question1">Favorite pet?</label><h2>
> <fieldset id="question1">
>   <p><label><input type="radio" name="q1" value="Cat">Cat</label></p>
>   <p><label><input type="radio" name="q1" value="Dog">Dog</label></p>
>   <p><label><input type="radio" name="q1" value="Ant">Ant</label></p>
> </fieldset>

Why is this preferable to:

 <fieldset>
   <legend>Favorite pet?</legend>
   <p><label><input type="radio" name="q1" value="Cat">Cat</label></p>
   <p><label><input type="radio" name="q1" value="Dog">Dog</label></p>
   <p><label><input type="radio" name="q1" value="Ant">Ant</label></p>
 </fieldset>

...?


> or:
> 
> <label>
>   <h2>Favorite pet?<h2>
>   <fieldset>
>     <p><label><input type="radio" name="q1" value="Cat">Cat</label></p>
>     <p><label><input type="radio" name="q1" value="Dog">Dog</label></p>
>     <p><label><input type="radio" name="q1" value="Ant">Ant</label></p>
>   </fieldset>
> </label>

Why is this preferable to the above?


> > I don't understand why the <fieldset> and <legend> can't be in the 
> > template.
> 
> That is how I do it now. The downside of it is the fact that some 
> themplate authors might forget it - a relevant number of web designers 
> in fact don't even know about fieldsets, as forms usually "work" with or 
> without them. Anyway it is not a big problem; it would just be a nice 
> enhancement of consistency if the template engine were able to output 
> *all* form structuring elements.

I don't understand the problem, but if it's not a big problem, then I 
would suggest we punt on it until the next version.

-- 
Ian Hickson               U+1047E                )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
http://ln.hixie.ch/       U+263A                /,   _.. \   _\  ;`._ ,.
Things that are impossible just take longer.   `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'