[whatwg] <input type=number> for year input

[Smylers]

Ryosuke Niwa writes:

> On Mar 11, 2014, at 2:28 AM, Smylers <Smylers at stripey.com> wrote:
> > 
> > Ryosuke Niwa writes:
> > 
> > > On Mar 7, 2014, at 3:54 AM, Smylers <Smylers at stripey.com> wrote:
> > > 
> > > > Are there many websites currently catering [for] Japanese years
> > > > by offering such an interface? If so, it would make sense to
> > > > create <input type=year> such that browsers can offer this
> > > > consistently, freeing authors from having to develop these for
> > > > each site.
> > > 
> > > SMBC, the second largest bank in Japan, has an online account form
> > > which asks the date of birth using Japanese calendar system. They
> > > don't provide an option to type that in using the Gregorian calendar
> > > at least in the Japanese version of their website.
> > > 
> > > Sony bank (moneykit.net) asks the date of birth using Gregorian
> > > calendar but provides a conversion table from Japanese calendar
> > > system: http://moneykit.net/visitor/account/account14.html
> > > 
> > > I'll note, however, that both of these use cases are better addressed
> > > via type=date.
> > 
> > Yes, so they aren't actually demonstrating that <input type=year> would
> > be useful.
> > 
> > Also, both of those seem to be sites intended only for Japanese
> > users. As such, a Japanese-specific year selection is sufficient for
> > them; they can use <select> for the entire year, or possibly
> > <select> for the era then <input type=number> for the year within
> > that era. Such sites wouldn't be trying to use <input type=number>
> > for a year in the first place, so the unsuitability of it for
> > Japanese years doesn't matter.
> 
> younger generations tend to be more comfortable with the Gregorian
> calendar while older generations tend to be more comfortable with
> Japanese era system.

Ah, OK.

<input type=date> with an interface offering both ways of specifying a
date would indeed be useful, but I don't think that requires any changes
to the HTML spec.

It follows that any site which wants a year for any purpose and has a
Japanese audience would therefore benefit from a year widget which also
offers both Gregorian and Japanese ways of specifying a year.

I could find such sites in English, and hypothesize that equivalent
Japanese sites would also exist. But in terms of providing requirements
to the HTML spec, it'd be better to have examples of actual sites, not
mere hypothetical ones.

Smylers
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