Jen SimmonsJun 14, 2023

Dear web developers & designers,

Now that you know what’s coming in Safari 17 — as well as what shipped in Safari 16.2-16.5 — what do you need in WebKit next?

Which web technology that’s already been standardized is highest priority? What brand new idea do you need invented?

Show threadPaul RosenJun 14, 2023

@jensimmons native "combo box" - a select control where the user can type to filter the selections.

Also a richly-styled select control dropdown area.

Show threadJon LunmanJun 15, 2023

@paulrosen @jensimmons

Isn't that a datalist?
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/datalist

I'm with you on richly styling the dropdown area though.

<datalist>: The HTML Data List element - HTML: HyperText Markup Language | MDN

The <datalist> HTML element contains a set of <option> elements that represent the permissible or recommended options available to choose from within other controls.

MDN Web Docs
Show threadPaul Rosen
@jlunman @jensimmons I've never used that! I'm going to experiment because that might do it. I wonder why it isn't more widely used.
Jun 15, 2023 at 1:45amWeb
Show threadJon LunmanJun 15, 2023
@paulrosen @jensimmons The datalist UX isn't that great. and it's inconsistent across browsers and devices. I feel that way about a lot of the HTML5 input types, actually. The browser implementations often feel half-baked, and confusing to use. It's probably why devs keep reinventing better versions of these inputs in JS.