On 31/3/09 07:24, Antti Koivisto wrote:
I'd like to propose a new <input> type attribute value for phone numbers
(<input type="phonenumber"> perhaps). The primary benefit would be to
enable use of phone number specific input methods (for example a virtual
keyboard) and pickers (for example a system address book).A useful
minimal implementation could limit the allowed characters to those legal
in phone numbers (+ * # and 0-9).
Sounds nice, but I think you need to follow this process more closely:
http://wiki.whatwg.org/wiki/FAQ#Is_there_a_process_for_adding_new_features_to_the_spec.3F
I'd recommend reviewing previous discussion of similar feature
proposals, e.g. by searching the mailing list.
An earlier draft included a "tel" type for "input", but this was dropped
after concerns it would be difficult for UAs to correct convert
telephone numbers to the required format:
http://lists.whatwg.org/htdig.cgi/whatwg-whatwg.org/2004-June/000150.html
http://lists.whatwg.org/htdig.cgi/whatwg-whatwg.org/2004-June/000206.html
http://lists.whatwg.org/htdig.cgi/whatwg-whatwg.org/2004-June/000287.html
If you'd still like to propose the feature, I think you'll need to
address questions like:
* What are the author or user problems you are trying to solve? You
mention virtual keyboards - are these intended to provide security in
some way?
* How do people already attempt to solve these problems (link to
examples/tutorials)? How could solutions make use of the new features
HTML5 introduces (e.g.
http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/#attr-input-pattern)?
Are there any other possible solutions to the problems (security, adding
from address books) that HTML5 could introduce? What are the pros and
cons of all these possible solutions?
I'd note one important alternative is the emergence of systems to
autofill such profile information by providing a username on another
system, from which the information can be harvested (e.g. via
microformat parsing).
With regards to the specific solution you did propose, what defines what
is "legal in phone numbers" and what these symbols mean?
--
Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis
