[whatwg] input element list attribute and filtering suggestions

[Ian Hickson]

On Fri, 29 Jul 2011, Jonas Sicking wrote:
> > On Mon, 9 May 2011, Mounir Lamouri wrote:
> >>
> >> Basically, when you want to use the datalist to suggest a few things 
> >> you might not want to filter and when the list is long, you very 
> >> likely want to filter.
> >>
> >> You might not want to filter when the list is a real set of 
> >> suggestions and you can type anything else. For example, a field in a 
> >> support form can ask you "What is your problem?" and you could type a 
> >> brief summary but some pre-written issues will be available. It's 
> >> equivalent to a select element followed by an input field that you 
> >> can use if you select "other" in the list. As I see it, when you 
> >> filter, you have a very long list and you very likely want the user 
> >> to select something in the list like a list of bugzilla emails, a 
> >> list o metro stations, etc. Writing anything not in the list might 
> >> not work.
> >
> > So why don't you just automatically filter if the list is long, and 
> > not filter if the list is short?
> 
> I'm not a big fan of try-to-guess-what-the-author-wants-to-do solutions 
> like that. Guessing will likely be as often wrong and annoying as it 
> will be correct and helpful.

Showing the user an autocomplete list with hundreds of entries is going to 
be far more annoying.

This to me seems to be entirely a UI issue.

-- 
Ian Hickson               U+1047E                )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
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