Html: consider removing support for multiple in <input type=range>

[smaug----]

Seems like browsers (Chrome, FF, Edge) don't support it, at least not in the UI.

data:text/html,<input type=range multiple min=0 max=24 value=0,24 step=1.0>

Or am I testing it wrong way?

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1278057

[domenic]

I believe this was added without implementer commitment in 1efac390abb3f95df61f2d2ac6c0feb47349d97b to fix https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=13154. I guess there was some Mozilla and Google support of the idea.

I was not able to find any open WebKit or Chromium bugs. @tkent-google, @cdumez, @DigiTec, any plans to implement this, or should we remove it?

[tkent-google]

The bug for Chromium is here: https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=340116

But I don't think it will be used widely, and I guess the implementation cost is high. I'd be happy if it is removed.

[smaug----]

yeah, certainly not trivial to implement and I haven't seen such controls being used too often.
And there is https://leaverou.github.io/multirange/ and I'm sure also other js implementations.

[tabatkins]

@leaverou would probably be amused/angry to see one of her hole-filling libraries being used to justify not filling that hole natively. ^_^

As noted in the w3 bug, there are strong use-cases for a 2-value range input, to represent the min/max value of a range. I see this often with time ranges; the bug points to as an example (click the Times tab).

[LeaVerou]

I haven't seen such controls being used too often.

We must be browsing a different Web then, cause I see them all the time. Usually made with the bloated jQuery UI.

[smaug----]

Well, I guess the main question here is that does any browser vendor plan to implement the feature?
Doesn't make sense to keep unimplemented/unmaintained features in the specs for years.
As far as I know the spec for ´type=range multiple´ hasn't been reviewed either (since reviewing doesn't happen properly before implementing)

@rniwa @adrianba

[cdumez]

I am not aware of any plans to implement this in WebKit.

[domenic]

I think there are definite use cases for this, and I would have loved to see it implemented. However, lacking any implementer commitment, we should probably remove it until such a time as such commitment materializes. If that materializes, we can try for a removal-revert, as is currently being attempted for inert="" in #1474.

[Haroenv]

What's the process of voicing an opinion to put this in browsers? I can't really see any _complete_ solutions for having a multiple range input, which is way more intuitive than a single point, and might be why input[type=range] isn't very popular.

I'd love to be helpful in some way 😄

AFAIK _all_ popular range input libraries support multiple (at least two) inputs:

• https://github.com/airbnb/rheostat
• https://github.com/IonDen/ion.rangeSlider
• https://github.com/leongersen/noUiSlider
• https://github.com/davidchin/react-input-range
• https://github.com/NightCatSama/vue-slider-component
• https://github.com/angular-slider/angularjs-slider

[domenic]

You can open issues on each browser vendor asking them to prioritize implementing this (according to the previous spec). If 2+ of them agree to do so, we'll add it back to the spec.

[annevk]

Note that we still don't have full interop on the other input types, so focusing getting those implemented first might be better.

[Haroenv]

Totally a valid point @annevk, will just keep my eye out for it, since it seems like a massive uphill battle to define what a multiple input would _really_ mean (even with Lea's "polyfill" and the other sliders)

[adrianba]

I can't find this being tracked as a deliverable anywhere for EdgeHTML.
@dstorey

[dstorey]

Yeah, we don't currently have anything tracking this, and I've not yet seen any demand on https://wpdev.uservoice.com/forums/257854-microsoft-edge-developer
In the controls space we'd have a few things higher priority than this such as finishing details/summary, dialog, etc, but if anyone wants this then I encourage them to vote on our userVoice.

IE/Edge has multiple vendor specific pseudos for styling range. If this was ever added, that would need to be thought about, such as if the two knobs could be styled independently, and if there is a 3rd pseudo for the track (currently the track before and after the knob can be styled, while with multiple the part between the knobs is the filled in part usually while before the first knob and after the second are usually styled similar to the after case in a one knob slider)