<Glazblog/>

camera://

Future of the Web... Brad Lassey had a really great idea for Fennec, and I think it should hit all browsers, not only mobile browsers. Just allow me to recommend the following:

  • allow <input type="camera"> and camera:// (or whatever it becomes but type="camera" or type="webcam" seems fine to me) in Firefox, make it reach HTML5 spec
  • make sure the user sees an alert or notification asking him/her if he/she's ok to allow the browser (and the visited web site) to have access to the webcam; "allow this web page to use my webcam", "always allow this web page to use my webcam", "never allow this web page to use my webcam"; needs a new dialog with a list so the user can change his/her choices if needed.
  • probably make the value of that <input> element be a data URL.

Really a great idea, wow I really want this in all browsers.

Comments

1. On Wednesday 24 September 2008, 15:44 by Diego

What's the point of seeing your own webcam in your own browser?

2. On Wednesday 24 September 2008, 17:31 by Kelson

Obvious use case: Upload images directly from your camera to a website, without taking the time to save it, then open a file dialog in the browser to locate it.

3. On Wednesday 24 September 2008, 19:02 by timeless

it should be:

<input type=picture>

and

<input type=video>

if the user or agent want to provide access to a camera or video camera, that's the choice of the user or agent. if the user chooses to use some other media instead of a live picture, that should be ok too.

never force on the world an implementation detail which harms the userspace.

4. On Wednesday 24 September 2008, 19:21 by Chris

Actually it's already part of HTML4, let alone HTML5! The spec uses <input type="file" accept="image/*"> (or e.g. image/png if you want to control the format).

You can also imagine dictating a google search using <input type="file" accept="audio/*">, or using a webcam with <input type="file" accept="video/*">. What a benefit for accessibility!