Reference Target Tracking Issue

[dandclark]

Filing this issue as a central place to track open questions about reference target.

Blocking Phase 1:

• Reference Target: How to handle invalid ID references? #1071
• Reference Target: Should the form and list JavaScript attributes return the host element? #1072
• (Per TAG review) The API name. Are there names besides referenceTarget we should consider?

Blocking Phase 2:

• An issue still needs to be filed on this, but we received feedback at TPAC and from the TAG that the microsyntax proposed for phase 2 is undesirable. We should reconsider using separate attributes for each property to be redirected.
• In phase 2, how can an author indicate that references for a given property should not be forwarded?

Non-blocking:

• Depending on the outcome of IDREF attributes are fragile and painful to use w3ctag/gaps#2, should something in addition to IDRefs be supported?

For Chromium implementation TODOs, see here.

See also whatwg/html#10707.

[Westbrook]

As of 2024Q4, the following tasks are NOT blocking an initial release, right?

• An issue still needs to be filed on this, but we received feedback at Web Components & ARIA w3c/tpac2024-breakouts#30 (comment) and from the TAG that the microsyntax proposed for phase 2 is undesirable. We should reconsider using separate attributes for each property to be redirected.
• In phase 2, how can an author indicate that references for a given property should Reference Target w3ctag/design-reviews#961 (comment)?
• Depending on the outcome of IDREF attributes are fragile and painful to use w3ctag/gaps#2, should something in addition to IDRefs be supported?
  Each of these being "Phase 2"-centric.

[dandclark]

As of 2024Q4, the following tasks are NOT blocking an initial release, right?

Right. I've edited the original comment to make this clearer.

[alice]

I filed an issue for the name bikeshed: #1087

[alice]

Apologies if I missed an earlier resolution on these issues, but I have come across some other potential blockers for phase 1.

• Reference Target: How should we treat invalid reference targets for relations set via Element IDL attributes? #1089
• Reference Target: Which attributes are in scope? #1091