Re: [whatwg] optgroup element used for selection
On Thu, 9 Apr 2009, Randy Drielinger wrote: Currently (HTML4.01) and in the near-future HTML5 spec optgroup elements are used to group options (hence the name :-) and amongst others allow us to disable a group of option elements at once. Personally, I think it would make sense to add the ability to make an optgroup selectable. The result *could* be to select all the childs of that optgroup element (or simply post the child values as an array or whatever). This has been suggested previously also. I have noted it as a possible extension for a future version. I'd like to avoid adding new features at this point so that we can get HTML5 out of the door. :-) Cheers, -- Ian Hickson U+1047E)\._.,--,'``.fL http://ln.hixie.ch/ U+263A/, _.. \ _\ ;`._ ,. Things that are impossible just take longer. `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'
Re: [whatwg] optgroup element used for selection
Personally i'd rather that a UA be able to choose to do this on its own. I don't think it requires a change to the specification. you're talking more about a behavior (clicking X triggers Y and Z) than how the web page sees what happened (either way it only sees triggers on Y and Z). I've actually been poking this widget a couple of ways recently and things like this have come to mind.
Re: [whatwg] optgroup element used for selection
Markus Ernst schrieb: Randy Drielinger schrieb: Currently (HTML4.01) and in the near-future HTML5 spec optgroup elements are used to group options (hence the name :-) and amongst others allow us to disable a group of option elements at once. Personally, I think it would make sense to add the ability to make an optgroup selectable. The result *could* be to select all the childs of that optgroup element (or simply post the child values as an array or whatever). I've searched through the archive and only found discussions regarding nested optgroups. In a form submission case it would make sense as optgroups are used to subcategorize options. If optgroups are used in for example search pages on websites, it would allow users to only select an optgroup to select all of it's childs in, as an example, the following scenario: select optgroup label=Excel option label=Excel 2000Excel 2000/option option label=Excel 2002Excel 2002/option option label=Excel 2003Excel 2003/option option label=Excel 2007Excel 2007/option /optgroup optgroup label=Word option label=Word 2000Word 2000/option option label=Word 2002Word 2002/option option label=Word 2003Word 2003/option option label=Word 2007Word 2007/option /optgroup /select Would all of the above make sense? Or don't y'all encounter issues related to form usability at the moment? The idea looks good to me, while I am not familiar with possible earlier discussion of it. Anyway this behaviour should be restricted to select elements with a multiple attribute, where multiple selections are allowed at all. It might even be useful to allow a value attribute to the optgroup element: - Optgroup selected, no value attribute provided: Submit array of child option values - Optgroup selected, value attribute provided: Submit value of optgroup element A possible use case for this - the assignment of pictures to a gallery page in a CMS: select name=pix[] multiple optgroup label=My family value=family option value=mom.jpgMom/option option value=pa.jpgPa/option /optgroup optgroup label=My pets value=pets option value=cat.jpgCat/option option value=dog.jpgDog/option /optgroup /select Like this you can assign either single pictures or whole categories (including future entries to the categories, as you submit the category name rather than the contents). Currently the solution for the same task looks somehow like this: select name=pix[] multiple option value=familyMy family/option option value=mom.jpgnbsp;nbsp;Mom/option option value=pa.jpgnbsp;nbsp;Pa/option option value=petsMy pets/option option value=cat.jpgnbsp;nbsp;Cat/option option value=dog.jpgnbsp;nbsp;Dog/option /select Which does actually work, but is not structurally nice.
[whatwg] optgroup element used for selection
Currently (HTML4.01) and in the near-future HTML5 spec optgroup elements are used to group options (hence the name :-) and amongst others allow us to disable a group of option elements at once. Personally, I think it would make sense to add the ability to make an optgroup selectable. The result *could* be to select all the childs of that optgroup element (or simply post the child values as an array or whatever). I've searched through the archive and only found discussions regarding nested optgroups. In a form submission case it would make sense as optgroups are used to subcategorize options. If optgroups are used in for example search pages on websites, it would allow users to only select an optgroup to select all of it's childs in, as an example, the following scenario: select optgroup label=Excel option label=Excel 2000Excel 2000/option option label=Excel 2002Excel 2002/option option label=Excel 2003Excel 2003/option option label=Excel 2007Excel 2007/option /optgroup optgroup label=Word option label=Word 2000Word 2000/option option label=Word 2002Word 2002/option option label=Word 2003Word 2003/option option label=Word 2007Word 2007/option /optgroup /select Would all of the above make sense? Or don't y'all encounter issues related to form usability at the moment?
