[webkit-dev] Supporting css ime-mode property

[Kenichi Ishibashi]

Hi,

I'd like to implement CSS ime-mode property, which
activates/deactivates input methods, to WebKit. Here is the MDC's
document about this property:

https://developer.mozilla.org/en/CSS/ime-mode

This property is not a part of any public standard, but both of IE and
Firefox support this property. Like Safari and Chrome, they are widely
used browsers so the ime-mode property is frequently used when one
wants to control input methods. So, if WebKit supports this property,
it would improve compatibility of web pages and make web developers
easier to implement their pages and services.

I recently posted a patch to support the ime-mode property for mac
(See https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=21279), but alexey asked
me to discuss at WHATWG mailing list whether we really should
implement this property. Before going to WATWG, I'd like to ask
opinions from webkit-dev mailing list.

In comments of https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=21279, I
mentioned the motivation and benefits of supporting this property. In
sammary, there are pros and cons for supporting the ime-mode property.

Pros:
- Can provide a suitable input mode of input methods for particular
input elements. For instance, one might deactivate the input method on
a credit card number form or telephone number form, while might
activate th input method on a address form.
- Improves page compatibility. As I mentioned in the comment of the
issue, there are many pages which uses the ime-mode property,
espacially in CJK web pages. Providing the same behavior regardless of
what browser the use uses would be helpful both web authors and users.

Cons:
- Some users not always feel good when the browser controls input
methods automatically.
- Input validation is still needed even if this property is specified
on an input element and the user input are restricted.

FYI, discussion on implementing ime-mode property in Firefox is also
available at:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=279246.

As the MDC document noted, it's not appropriate for excessive use of
this property, but, IMHO, supporting this property would be helpful
for people who musta take care of input method related stuff.

Regards,