Re: New approach to HTML Media Capture

On Tue, Apr 19, 2011 at 1:24 PM, Ian Hickson <ian@hixie.ch> wrote:
> I still don't understand what problem this is solving.

Use case: I want to write a web page that does simultaneous
translation of spoken language, targeted primarily at mobile phone
users.  Although it's possible that some users will want to upload
files they've saved, the overwhelming majority of users will want to
use their microphone to translate something they're hearing in real
time.  I need the microphone opt-in to be prominent and obvious to
users, not obscure or optional.

Use case: I want to write a web page that does photo analysis, similar
to Google Goggles, targeted primarily at mobile phone users.  Although
it's possible that some users will want to upload files they've saved,
the overwhelming majority of users will want to use their camera to
take a picture of something they want more info about right now.  I
need the camera opt-in to be prominent and obvious to users, not
obscure or optional.

As evidence that both these use-cases are real, the Google Translate
and Google Goggles applications for Android exactly meet these
descriptions.  As far as I can recall, neither one even provides an
option to use a saved file.  Doing so would only confuse the user,
since it's extremely unlikely that users will want to use a saved file
for either application.

> This is all you need to indicate that the user should be able to use the
> camera (or the filesystem) to get data:
>
>   <input type="file" accept="image/*">
>
> This is all you need to indicate that the user should be able to use
> either the filesystem, camera, or microphone, to get any kind of file
> including an image or a video:
>
>   <input type=file>

These do not satisfy either use-case, because they will present the
user with a confusing dialog that asks them to upload a file, and may
or may not even give them the option of using their camera or
microphone.  The use-cases require that the user be asked prominently
to use their camera or microphone, because that's the expected way
that the vast majority of users will use the application.

Received on Thursday, 21 April 2011 19:32:21 UTC