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Re: preg_match() oddities and question

Followups directed to: comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc

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Sandman wrote:

> In article <1438797.UceJUlZ0hu@PointedEars.de>,
>> The kind of structured data that you need to enter in a form does not
>> matter.  Using cursor keys to move the text cursor between delimiters in
>> a running text always causes has more accessibility and usability
>> problems, and consequently information processing problems, than tabbing
>> (or otherwise moving the focus) from one control to another.
> 
> Whatever gave you the idea that I am proposing a solution where the
> user would have to "use cursor keys to move the text cursor between
> delimiter in a running text"? I literally have no idea what you are
> talking about, and it has absolutely nothing to do with this thread.

I am imagining a visitor of your Web site entering "foo street 34" (perhaps 
as part of a longer text; your next question about phone numbers indicates 
just that).  Seeing that the "34" needed to be "42" instead, they would tab 
back, upon which the entire text field is usually selected, and they have to 
press the End key (or Alt+Arrow Right on Macs, IIRC) to get to the end.  
Then they would perhaps press the Backspace key twice and type "42"  Or 
perhaps they needed it to be "134", so they would perhaps press the Arrow 
Left or Backspace key twice (or Ctrl/Compose+Left) before they could make 
their edit.  (It would be comparably tedious with a pointing device, so do 
not get me started on that.)

Now, it would be so much easier for them to work with the form, and easier 
for you to process the data they entered, if you had the street name and the 
house number in separate controls.  Then they would tab back to the house 
number control, which text would be selected, and they could immediately fix 
their mistake.  In addition, you could set up access keys and labels for the 
controls with pure HTML so that users can use either way to focus the 
control they want to edit.  This would work with a graphical browser, a text 
browser, a screen reader etc.  Lately, it would work best with a mobile 
device (anyone who has experienced first-hand how tedious it is to position 
the text cursor with a mobile device, especially with a touchscreen, knows 
what I mean).  You cannot do that with one control.

This is just a simple example, of course, but it shows rather clearly the 
benefits associated with providing separate form controls for the components 
of structured data.  Another good example are separate inputs for the 
components of a date where you can, regardless of date format and component 
order in that date format, always be sure what is the date, the month, and 
the year *as meant by the user*; it is also one instance where client-side 
scripts can assist the user in entering data in several ways.


EOD here or, if you want to, F'up2 comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc

PointedEars
-- 
    realism:    HTML 4.01 Strict
    evangelism: XHTML 1.0 Strict
    madness:    XHTML 1.1 as application/xhtml+xml
                                                    -- Bjoern Hoehrmann

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preg_match() oddities and question Sandman <mr@sandman.net> - 2011-11-22 12:21 +0100
  Re: preg_match() oddities and question The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-22 11:26 +0000
    Re: preg_match() oddities and question Sandman <mr@sandman.net> - 2011-11-22 12:36 +0100
    Re: preg_match() oddities and question Jerry Stuckle <jstucklex@attglobal.net> - 2011-11-22 07:22 -0500
  Re: preg_match() oddities and question tony@mountifield.org (Tony Mountifield) - 2011-11-22 11:47 +0000
    Re: preg_match() oddities and question Sandman <mr@sandman.net> - 2011-11-22 13:12 +0100
  Re: preg_match() oddities and question Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de> - 2011-11-22 13:30 +0100
    Re: preg_match() oddities and question Sandman <mr@sandman.net> - 2011-11-22 13:55 +0100
      Re: preg_match() oddities and question Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de> - 2011-11-22 17:56 +0100
        Re: preg_match() oddities and question The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-22 17:30 +0000
          Re: preg_match() oddities and question "Peter H. Coffin" <hellsop@ninehells.com> - 2011-11-22 17:20 -0600
            Re: preg_match() oddities and question The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-22 23:59 +0000
            Re: preg_match() oddities and question Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de> - 2011-11-23 01:59 +0100
              Re: preg_match() oddities and question Sandman <mr@sandman.net> - 2011-11-23 09:58 +0100
                Re: preg_match() oddities and question Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de> - 2011-11-23 22:02 +0100
                Re: preg_match() oddities and question Sandman <mr@sandman.net> - 2011-11-24 08:20 +0100
                Re: preg_match() oddities and question Denis McMahon <denismfmcmahon@gmail.com> - 2011-11-24 12:55 +0000
                Re: preg_match() oddities and question Sandman <mr@sandman.net> - 2011-11-25 09:36 +0100
                Re: preg_match() oddities and question Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de> - 2011-11-24 22:41 +0100
                Re: preg_match() oddities and question Sandman <mr@sandman.net> - 2011-11-25 09:26 +0100
                Re: preg_match() oddities and question Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de> - 2011-11-25 15:44 +0100
                Re: preg_match() oddities and question Sandman <mr@sandman.net> - 2011-11-25 16:34 +0100
                Re: preg_match() oddities and question Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de> - 2011-11-25 23:23 +0100
              Re: preg_match() oddities and question The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-23 09:35 +0000
        Re: preg_match() oddities and question Sandman <mr@sandman.net> - 2011-11-23 09:55 +0100
          Re: preg_match() oddities and question "Peter H. Coffin" <hellsop@ninehells.com> - 2011-11-23 07:53 -0600
            Re: preg_match() oddities and question Sandman <mr@sandman.net> - 2011-11-23 19:01 +0100
              Re: preg_match() oddities and question The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-23 18:54 +0000
                Re: preg_match() oddities and question Sandman <mr@sandman.net> - 2011-11-23 20:23 +0100
              Re: preg_match() oddities and question "Peter H. Coffin" <hellsop@ninehells.com> - 2011-11-23 12:58 -0600
                Re: preg_match() oddities and question Sandman <mr@sandman.net> - 2011-11-24 08:28 +0100
  SOLVED: Re: preg_match() oddities and question Sandman <mr@sandman.net> - 2011-11-25 10:32 +0100
    Re: SOLVED: Re: preg_match() oddities and question Jerry Stuckle <jstucklex@attglobal.net> - 2011-11-25 18:55 -0500
      Re: SOLVED: Re: preg_match() oddities and question Sandman <mr@sandman.net> - 2011-11-26 11:21 +0100

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