[Webkit-unassigned] [Bug 9223] Resize handles should be on the lower left corner for rtl

Sun Mar 4 01:11:49 PST 2012

https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=9223

--- Comment #20 from Aharon (Vladimir) Lanin <aharon at google.com>  2012-03-04 01:11:49 PST ---
Took a look at textarea resizing in Canary. Currently, resizing an RTL textarea is badly broken (besides the non-flipped image):
- Dragging the bottom left corner to the left does not do anything. It should widen the textarea by the distance from the mouse to the left corner.
- Dragging the bottom left corner to the right widens the textarea, crazily. It should not do anything.

I think that the most important test case is:

data:text/html,<html dir=rtl><textarea></textarea></html>

It should work as the exact mirror image of:

data:text/html,<html><textarea></textarea></html>

Please check out how it works in FF, which has it correct.

IMO, this is a severe regression and has to be fixed ASAP.

Now, regarding an RTL textarea in an LTR div, i.e.:

data:text/html,<html><textarea dir=rtl></textarea></html>

It has been suggested above that in this case the resizer should be on the bottom right and widen the textarea when dragged to the right. It has also been suggested that generally the resizer location and action should depend on the directionality of the textarea's containing block, not the directionality of the textarea itself. And that the resizer and the scrollbar should always be on the same side, so that in the case above the textarea's scrollbar should also be on the right.

Now, I agree that in the case above, the best UX would be to have the resizer on the bottom right, widening the textarea when dragged to the right. However, this has *nothing* to do with the directionality of either the textarea or its containing block. The exact same issue exists in the following three cases, *none* of which have any RTL in them:

data:text/html,<div style="text-align:right"><textarea></textarea> *** </div>

data:text/html,<div style="text-align:right"><div style="display:inline-block; text-align:left"><textarea></textarea> *** </div></div>

data:text/html,<div style="float:right"><textarea></textarea> *** </div>

If someone can figure how to handle these better than we do currently, that's fine. (BTW, please note that FF handles them more simply - and arguably better - than WebKit.) But it is not imperative to do so immediately. And the fix, although it will also improve the RTL textarea in LTR container (and LTR textarea in RTL container) case, has nothing to do with directionality. 

As for the resizer and the scrollbar having to be on the same side of the textarea, I completely disagree with that conclusion. Yes, ideally the resizer should be on the end side of the textarea, for the same reason that the scrollbar should be there. But having a reasonable UX for the resizer is much more important. If that means moving it to the start side of the textarea in certain cases, so be it. But I see absolutely no reason to move the scrollbar to the same side in those cases. Whatever we do, we should keep the scrollbar side interoperable with other browsers, which the recent fix to Bug 54623 finally achieved (for elements below body).

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