[whatwg] Can we make checkboxes readonly?

[Markus Ernst]

Am 11.07.2012 00:59 schrieb Ian Hickson:
> On Fri, 4 May 2012, Tab Atkins Jr. wrote:
>> On Wed, May 2, 2012 at 3:57 PM, Ian Hickson<ian at hixie.ch>  wrote:
>>> On Wed, 6 Apr 2011, Tab Atkins Jr. wrote:
>>>> An app may dynamically set inputs or groups of inputs to readonly
>>>> based on app state.  When you submit, though, it's impossible to
>>>> tell (without hacks) whether a checkbox was checked-but-disabled or
>>>> just unchecked. Handling the form data is *much* easier if you just
>>>> get all the data, regardless of whether, as a UI convenience, your
>>>> app temporarily set some of the inputs to readonly.
>>>
>>> That's a use case for submitting disabled check boxes, not for
>>> read-only checkboxes, IMHO. (The same could be said for disabled text
>>> controls.)
>>
>> That's more-or-less what @readonly does - the input becomes "disabled"
>> but still submits.
>
> That's part of what it does, but not the main thing it does. It's mainly a
> UI affordance, which doesn't apply to check boxes.

Given that there are valid use cases for submitting values of elements 
that have a disabled resp. readonly behaviour in the UI: Would it do any 
_harm_ to allow @readonly to checkboxes and radio buttons? I assume this 
would be easy and possible without breaking existing content. Submitting 
disabled elements, OTOH, looks to me like an impossible change, as it 
would likely break existing content.