Search element specification with form functionality

[Kaleidea]

Credit for the explainer and examples goes to @scottaohara, only minor adjustments were made.

Proposal

1. Design
2. Motivation

Implementations (proof-of-concept)

• Chromium
• WebKit
• Firefox in progress

Specification (generated)

• Readable form
• Meaningful changes:
  • action attr
  • forms section
  • indices
• Editorial changes: "form element(s)" -> "form(s)" / "form owner", etc.
  • Most: form-control-infrastructure

Specification source

• Categorised changes:
  • What developers will read: "The search element" section
  • Add the <search> element to tag lists
  • Systematic changes: Rewording "form elements" -> "forms", etc.
  • Optional: Clarification notes
• This PR contains the breakdown of changes: each commit contains a different transformation pattern for quicker verification of the systematic editorial changes.

Design decisions

• <search> is implemented by HTMLFormElement.
• If the action attribute is not set then form submission is disabled (method=dialog still closes an ancestor dialog).
• Empty action="" attribute is valid - contrary to <form> -, behaves as if action is unset on a <form>: submits to the document's base URL.
• The parser treats <search> as a <form>: nesting of <search> and <form> is invalid in any combination. Invalid DOM with nesting can still be constructed with JS, behaves as nested forms do.
• <search> cannot be a shadow root: .attachShadow() is not allowed (like <form>, but unlike <div>). (MDN)

Prerequisites

• At least two implementers are interested (and none opposed):
  • TODO: Seeking contact.
• Tests are written and can be reviewed and commented upon at:
  • TODO: Awaiting feedback for the proof-of-concept implementations.
• Implementation bugs are filed:
  • Chrome: TODO
  • Firefox: TODO
  • Safari: TODO

(See WHATWG Working Mode: Changes for more details.)

---

/acknowledgements.html ( diff )
/common-dom-interfaces.html ( diff )
/custom-elements.html ( diff )
/dom.html ( diff )
/form-control-infrastructure.html ( diff )
/form-elements.html ( diff )
/forms.html ( diff )
/index.html ( diff )
/indices.html ( diff )
/infrastructure.html ( diff )
/input.html ( diff )
/interaction.html ( diff )
/interactive-elements.html ( diff )
/links.html ( diff )
/obsolete.html ( diff )
/parsing.html ( diff )
/rendering.html ( diff )
/semantics-other.html ( diff )
/semantics.html ( diff )
/syntax.html ( diff )
/window-object.html ( diff )

[annevk]

As discussed in whatwg/sg#93 it's currently not possible to accept pseudonymous contributions. The SG is looking into this, but I suspect it will take quite a while before that has meaningfully progressed.

[Kaleidea]

As discussed in whatwg/sg#93 it's currently not possible to accept pseudonymous contributions. The SG is looking into this, but I suspect it will take quite a while before that has meaningfully progressed.

Thank you for the reminder, not a problem at this stage. It seems there is a solution: what was necessary for you to approve PhistucK 2 years ago? whatwg/participant-data@9056efb
Let's discuss this on whatwg/sg#93 (comment).

[josepharhar]

It sounds like whatwg/sg#93 didn't go so well...
@Kaleidea are you still interested in working on this?
Should me or someone else pick up the work on this?

[domenic]

This proposal was rejected; the search element that landed in the spec was instead https://html.spec.whatwg.org/#the-search-element. Thanks for the reminder to close this PR.