3 ms·

Would it really be so hard to support a calendar? http://robertnyman.com/html5/forms/input-types.html http://robertnyman.com/html5/forms/input-types.html

spankalee 12y ago
I feel like a calendar input should probably be a custom element. There are too many possible variations.
- kencausey 12y ago
  I upvoted and tend to agree with you but I wonder if 90% of uses couldn't be addressed through a relatively small (hah!) amount of CSS customizability of the element.
  - Sharlin 12y ago
    Probably, if you only want to support the en-us locale. Of course, in the real world that's not 90% of use cases...
- _1 12y ago
  It's nice when a touch device can display an appropriate calendar selector. Even if the selector is barebones, it's nice to not have something you know will work, rather than to wonder through a gallery of the latest calendar widgets and then get disappointed that it's written for an incompatible framework.
- Karellen 12y ago
  "too many possible variations" sounds like a reason to me to have the browser support it - to add cross-site consistency to the element. Once you know how the calendar on your OS/browser works, you know how the calendar on all the websites works. Also, adding accessibility for those with visual problems is a job to be performed once, by browser implementors, and can be completely ignored (at least for wrt calendars) by everyone who ever writes a website. Learning keyboard shortcuts becomes worthwhile (or even just possible). Overlaying the events from your personal calendar, say when hovering over a date, would make it possible to easily pick dates that coincide with (or avoid) the holidays associated with your particular culture - which your OS knows about, but J. Random Website doesn't - without leaving your browser. (Not all cultural holidays are as easily predictable 8 months in advance as Dec 25! Think of those based on lunar calendars, e.g. Easter) Heck, I find it annoying when websites want to use custom drop-down lists or buttons. The drop-downs and buttons that my OS provides are beautiful, thanks very much, and easily recognisable to boot. I know just by looking at the page where the controls are and how they're going to act. If I want them to look and act differently, I can change that in one place, in my OS settings, and the controls all change in a totally consistent manner for every website ever written, except those that try to be clever and break my setup instead. I can't believe I've heard some people complain that they thought that the standard controls are "too ugly". Well, get a prettier browser/theme/OS then!

spankalee 12y ago

I feel like a calendar input should probably be a custom element. There are too many possible variations.

kencausey 12y ago
I upvoted and tend to agree with you but I wonder if 90% of uses couldn't be addressed through a relatively small (hah!) amount of CSS customizability of the element.
- Sharlin 12y ago
  Probably, if you only want to support the en-us locale. Of course, in the real world that's not 90% of use cases...
_1 12y ago
It's nice when a touch device can display an appropriate calendar selector. Even if the selector is barebones, it's nice to not have something you know will work, rather than to wonder through a gallery of the latest calendar widgets and then get disappointed that it's written for an incompatible framework.
Karellen 12y ago
"too many possible variations" sounds like a reason to me to have the browser support it - to add cross-site consistency to the element. Once you know how the calendar on your OS/browser works, you know how the calendar on all the websites works. Also, adding accessibility for those with visual problems is a job to be performed once, by browser implementors, and can be completely ignored (at least for wrt calendars) by everyone who ever writes a website. Learning keyboard shortcuts becomes worthwhile (or even just possible). Overlaying the events from your personal calendar, say when hovering over a date, would make it possible to easily pick dates that coincide with (or avoid) the holidays associated with your particular culture - which your OS knows about, but J. Random Website doesn't - without leaving your browser. (Not all cultural holidays are as easily predictable 8 months in advance as Dec 25! Think of those based on lunar calendars, e.g. Easter) Heck, I find it annoying when websites want to use custom drop-down lists or buttons. The drop-downs and buttons that my OS provides are beautiful, thanks very much, and easily recognisable to boot. I know just by looking at the page where the controls are and how they're going to act. If I want them to look and act differently, I can change that in one place, in my OS settings, and the controls all change in a totally consistent manner for every website ever written, except those that try to be clever and break my setup instead. I can't believe I've heard some people complain that they thought that the standard controls are "too ugly". Well, get a prettier browser/theme/OS then!