[whatwg] input element list attribute and filtering suggestions

[Jonas Sicking]

On Fri, Jul 29, 2011 at 9:29 AM, Ian Hickson <ian at hixie.ch> wrote:
> 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.

The problem is the other way around. When wanting to show a short list
that should be filtered based on user input.

/ Jonas