FormControlRange - Live ranges for <input> and <textarea>

[stephanieyzhang]

Specification title

FormControlRange - Live ranges for and <textarea>

Specification or proposal URL (if available)

whatwg/dom#1404 (PR)
whatwg/html#11478 (discussion thread)

Explainer URL (if available)

https://github.com/MicrosoftEdge/MSEdgeExplainers/blob/main/FormControlRange/explainer.md

Proposal author(s)

@stephanieyzhang, @anaskim, @dandclark,@leolee, @tayloregivens

MDN URL

No response

Caniuse.com URL

No response

Bugzilla URL

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1990256

Mozillians who can provide input

@keithamus

WebKit standards-position

WebKit/standards-positions#541

Other information

Currently, web developers can’t perform range-based operations (e.g., getting bounding rects, setting custom highlights) inside native text controls (<input>, <textarea>). As a result, they often resort to workarounds such as replicating the control and its styles in a contenteditable container and reimplementing input behavior -- an approach that’s tedious and error-prone to keep in sync with native behavior.

FormControlRange is a specialized, live AbstractRange subclass scoped to input/textarea value space. It enables those operations directly in native controls while restricting standard Range mutations to preserve encapsulation. It integrates cleanly with existing selection/editing behavior and closes a long-standing gap for form controls.

[stephanieyzhang]

@keithamus Just following up on this position request for FormControlRange. Would you be able to take a look or point me to the right person? Thanks!