[whatwg] Subsequent access to empty string URLs (Was: Base URL’s effect on an empty @src element)

[Ian Hickson]

On Wed, 1 May 2013, Leif Halvard Silli wrote:
> 
>   If @src is empty (and there is no base url) a 'subsequent access' via 
> a contextual menu, such as 'Show/Open image' or 'Save/Download image' 
> has no effect in Firefox20, Opera12, IE10. Whereas Safari/Chrome do 
> provide a contextual menu item for those features. (And the UA results 
> are the same - except with regard to Firefox, also if there *is* a base 
> URL.)

If the src="" attribute is empty, then there's no image, so all these UI 
options are kinda pointless no?


>   A special detail is the last paragraph of section '2.5.3 Dynamic 
> changes to base URLS'[1] which implies that a change to the base URL 
> should (even when @src is empty, one must assume, not?) affect the @src 
> URL so that a 'subsequent access' via context menu could be used to 
> e.g. open the image resource set by the base URL. Is it meaningful? 

If the <img src=""> is empty, the base URL has no effect, per spec.


>    What if @cite or @longdesc are empty? Personally, I think it would be 
> simplest to handle at least @longesc - but probably @cite too - the same 
> way that @src is handled. The relevance to subsequent access to empty 
> @src is that @longdesc and @cite tend, from users’ point of view, to be 
> subsequently accessed (e.g. via context menu).

Per spec, longdesc="" has no effect.

The cite="" is explictly called out in the "Dynamic changes to base URLs" 
section and the logic that involves the cite="" attribute doesn't look to 
see if it's empty, so I don't see any particular complication there.

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