HTML Attribute To Enable/Disallow Handwriting Enter

A new explainer for a brand new HTML attribute to deal with handwritten inputs. Like this:

<enter kind="textual content" handwriting="true" ... >
<enter kind="textual content" handwriting="false" ... >
<textarea handwriting="" ... > <!-- evaluates to "true" -->
<div contenteditable handwriting="true">...</div> <!-- perhaps? -->

The first use case is for these utilizing a type of writing units for contact screens, like Apple Pencil. The explainer comes from the Microsoft Edge staff, so perhaps the Floor Slim Pen is the impetus behind it. I suppose there are different use instances because the similar units that assist pen-like enter units additionally are likely to assist utilizing your finger. There are additionally these textual content field signatures in apps like DocuSign which are impossibly powerful to signal with a mouse cursor, although it’s potential.

We’ll let the creator, Adam Ettenberger, articulate it higher than I can:

The developer authoring the drawing widget is probably not conscious that it might be on prime of or close to an enter aspect, and it appears unhealthy if they should discover such parts and disable handwriting on them.

Why an HTML attribute? The explainer outlines just a few alternate options that have been thought of, together with:

• Extending the CSS pointer-events property (e.g. pointer-events: handwriting)
• Extending the CSS touch-action property
• Extending the HTML inputmode attribute

And why not a JavaScript API as a substitute? Haha, we gained’t go there.

Anyway, handwriting on the net… let’s see if we get a prototype!

A pair extra items of context: