[whatwg] input type=barcode?

[Tab Atkins Jr.]

On Thu, Aug 30, 2012 at 11:59 AM, Mounir Lamouri <mounir at lamouri.fr> wrote:
> On 08/30/2012 12:12 PM, Tab Atkins Jr. wrote:
>> It shouldn't be a new input type, because it's not a *type* of value.
>> Barcodes are simple a wrapper for a value, to make it more easily
>> machine-readable.  Scanning a barcode is an input mode for a value,
>> just like typing or speaking it is.
>
> Indeed. But then I wonder why it should be an inputmode because there is
> no reason why you couldn't use a barcode in any field. inputmode being
> an hint for the UA about the input that should be used, which means the
> UA would be asked to use a barcode app for certain fields and not
> others. I don't really see a use case for that.
>
> However, I think some users might want to use barcodes in some
> situations (without any opt-in from the webpage). Like to put an URL or
> an email address in a field. But in that case, it seems more like simple
> <input type={url,email}>'s. I wonder if we couldn't leave this as UA
> implementation details for URL and email fields?

You're correct that potentially any field could be entered via
barcodes.  As I explained in my initial email, though, the point is to
provide a suggestion for fields that you *intend* to be commonly
filled with a barcode.

This is precisely the case that inputmode is *designed* to address -
*any* field could *potentially* want latin-prose, or numeric, or kana.
 The inputmode argument, though, provides a hint that the user is
*likely* to want to enter this input's value with a particular mode.

~TJ