[whatwg] Please consider adding a couple more datetime <input> types - type="year" and type="month-day"

[Henri Sivonen]

On Aug 24, 2010, at 14:44, Martin Janecke wrote:

> Am 24.08.10 12:38, schrieb Henri Sivonen:
>> On Aug 9, 2010, at 04:07, Tantek Çelik wrote:
>> 
>>> * it has the *semantic* of being a year, which is a special type of
>>> number (potentially more than four digits if you subscribe to "Long
>>> Now"[1] methodology, or fewer than four as Andy noted).
>> 
>> Why is it useful to declare this semantic to the browser? What functional difference do you envision compared to a field that accepts an integer (potentially with min and max values relevant to the site)?
> 
> Future browser could offer a calendar tool to fill input fields that have a date semantic. While this would be appropriate, it would not be appropriate to offer a calendar tool for other integer data e.g. an input field that asks the user for his monthly income in USD.

What kind of calendar tool is more efficient for entering a year (year only without a month or day) than a UI that is optimized for entering an integer (typically text field plus spinbox arrows that also respond to arrow keys and input method defaulting to digits on phones and similar)?

(Also "future browser could" is a bit weak unless someone writing code for a browser indicates that he/she is actively implementing a given feature.)

-- 
Henri Sivonen
hsivonen at iki.fi
http://hsivonen.iki.fi/