[whatwg] fieldset (was: The legend element)

[Tab Atkins Jr.]

On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 10:32 AM, Jeremy Keith <jeremy at adactio.com> wrote:
> Hixie wrote:
>>>
>>> Then it might be nice to clarify this with a few words
>>> in the spec, as "The fieldset element represents a set of form controls
>>> optionally grouped under a common name" can be read as implying
>>> structuring and thus accessibility matters.
>>
>> The element does add structure and help with accessibility, but that
>> doesn't mean it's always necessary.
>
> I just had a thought (that I sanity-checked in IRC)...
>
> Perhaps <fieldset> should be a sectioning root?
>
> It "feels" like it's a similar kind of grouping element to <blockquote> and
> <td> in that, while it might well contain headings, you probably wouldn't
> want those headings to contribute to the overall outline of the document.
>
> What do you think?

Since I was the one it was sanity-checked against, +1 to this
suggestion.  I sometimes use headings to label individual inputs in a
form, and I don't particularly want to expose these in the page
outline.

A rider suggestion: expose <legend> in the page outline as the heading
for the <fieldset>.  (I don't *think* this currently happens in the
outline algorithm, but whatwg.org is down atm so I can't check.)

~TJ