430105 - Form inputs inside anchor tags are clickable to link, not to edit

Status: NEW

(Core :: DOM: Events, defect, P3)

Description

[Clarence Risher]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8.1.11) Gecko/20071204 Ubuntu/7.10 (gutsy) Firefox/2.0.0.11
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8.1.11) Gecko/20071204 Ubuntu/7.10 (gutsy) Firefox/2.0.0.11

A form input inside an <a> follows the link when it is clicked, instead of allowing text to be entered.  I think that this is non-intuitive and probably undesired behavior.

Sample code:
<a href="http://www.google.com"><input></a>

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
Visit URL, click on waiver name input.
Actual Results:  
(broken) link is followed

Expected Results:  
focus enters text box

Comment 1

[Damian Shaw [Quan]]

I have a strong feeling this bug is invalid, but I can't find the exact reference in the HTML specification. But I have a feeling that everything in between <a href="http://www.google.com"> and </a> should be a link to http://www.google.com. Giving the author full control over any item that the author wants to make a link. 

Comment 2

[Clarence Risher]

http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/links.html
...
The default behavior associated with a link is the retrieval of another Web resource. This behavior is commonly and implicitly obtained by selecting the link (e.g., by clicking, through keyboard input, etc.).
...
By activating these links (by clicking with the mouse, through keyboard input, voice commands, etc.), users may visit these resources.
...

The xhtml and html5 specs don't seem to have anything to say on the matter.

I think it is left up to the user agent precisely how and under what conditions to activate a link, and I reiterate that the behavior currently in FF2 is counterintuitive.

"Fixing" this would unfortunately remove an element of author control, in the rare case that the current behavior is desired, but this could be worked around with an onclick event for the input.

Comment 3

[Damian Shaw [Quan]]

I can confirm this behavior on Fx3 on Windows. Not sure I agree, but I can confirm it. I'd try and get the attention of an appropriate Mozilla developer if you feel pretty strongly about it.

Comment 4

[Firefox Bug Husbandry Bot]

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1472046

Move all DOM bugs that haven’t been updated in more than 3 years and has no one currently assigned to P5.

If you have questions, please contact :mdaly.