[thelist] Netscape 6.1, radiobuttons, and DTD

lon.kraemer lwkraemer at directvinternet.com
Fri Mar 1 10:20:17 CST 2002


> From: ".jeff" <jeff at members.evolt.org>

> lon,
>
> ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
> > Hold the phone. Are you saying a group of radio buttons
> > MUST have a default selected (or the browser should just
> > pick one)?
> ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
>
> yes.  it's not specified directly in the html spec, but there's a relevant
> rfc for it.  what's more, there's already established browser behavior all
> the way back to ie3, believe it or not, that dictates the default behavior
> as stated by rfc 1866 (section 8.1.2.4).
>
> http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1866.txt

Indeed, here is the relevant paragraph:

8.1.2.4. Radio Button: INPUT TYPE=RADIO

   An <INPUT> element with `TYPE=RADIO' represents a boolean choice. A
   set of such elements with the same name represents a 1-of-many choice
   field. The NAME and VALUE attributes are required as for check boxes.
   Optional attributes are:

    CHECKED
            indicates that the initial state is on.
   At all times, exactly one of the radio buttons in a set is checked.
   If none of the <INPUT> elements of a set of radio buttons specifies
   `CHECKED', then the user agent must check the first radio button of
   the set initially.

   For example:

    <p>Which is your favorite?
    <input type=radio name=flavor value=vanilla>Vanilla<br>
    <input type=radio name=flavor value=strawberry>Strawberry<br>
    <input type=radio name=flavor value=chocolate>Chocolate<br>

<snip>

> ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
> > I can see a lot of poll/survey web apps going ballistic!
> ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
>
> the price one pays for not paying attention to the standards and/or
browser
> behavior.  ;p
>
> .jeff

This makes NO sense to me and further, I don't believe I've ever seen this
behavior implemented in any browser I've ever used. Do you know of a user
agent that follows this directive? Is it something that may be implemented
in forthcoming browsers... something that perhaps we should start using in
our coding? Does anyone else code to this spec?

---------------------
Lon Kraemer
-----------------------------------------
- t r a n s m i s s i o n   c o m p l e t e -





More information about the thelist mailing list