Event Futures (Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference, 2nd Edition)

Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference, 2rd Ed.

6.8. Event Futures

That the W3C DOM Working Group has had its greatest and longest-lasting struggles with the Events module is not all that surprising. Many kinds of events are tied directly to an operating-system implementation, which makes it difficult to agree on a common denominator that acknowledges the way users interact with data within graphical user interfaces, while remaining implementation-independent. It may be some time before the many practical events available in IE for Windows are applicable and implementable across a range of operating systems and devices. In the meantime, the list of intrinsic events remains rather basic.

That Microsoft has, as of IE 6 for Windows, ignored the W3C DOM event model leaves one to wonder. Is it waiting for the Level 3 keyboard event model to be finalized before implementing any of the W3C model? Or will IE continue with its own exclusive model? If you are trying to get your code in shape for a long, maintenance-free future, IE's delay in supporting the W3C event model works in your favor. The longer the delay, the larger the installed base of code that relies on the IE model, which means that the model will be supported longer in the future. Therefore, the two-model equalization techniques described in this chapter should serve your code well for quite awhile.