Re: lynx-dev checkbox with empty value

[mattack]

On Tue, 2 May 2000, Klaus Weide wrote:

>Date: Tue, 2 May 2000 16:24:20 -0500 (CDT)
>From: Klaus Weide <address@hidden>
>Reply-To: address@hidden
>To: address@hidden
>Subject: Re: lynx-dev checkbox with empty value
>
>On Tue, 2 May 100, Janne Peltonen wrote:
>
>> It seems that Lynx handles checkbox type inputs with an empty ("")
>> value attribute as if the value was not given at all. When such a
>> checked checkbox is submitted, Lynx sends the string "on" rather than
>> an empty string. Netscape and IE don't replace empty values but send
>> "on" only if the value attribute wasn't there at all.
>
>HTML 4.01 says
>
>   value = cdata [CA]
>          This attribute specifies the initial value of the control.
>          It is optional except when the type attribute has the
>          value "radio" or "checkbox".
>
><URL: http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/interact/forms.html#adef-value-INPUT>
>
>So a missing value attribute would fall under error recovery.
>
>> I browsed the standards but couldn't find anything specifically on
>> empty value strings, other than some note that CDATA consists of zero
>> or more characters.
>
>Neither could I; so value="" should be treated as any
>other value.

empty meaning OFF makes far more sense than empty meaning ON.  The default
state is off, until you turn it on.