HTMLElement.contextmenu is five-year old and nobody intends to implement it

[kciray8]

HTMLElement.contextmenu is five-year old and many browsers still doesn't support it. Why? And maybe you should remove this attribute from HTML 5.1 specification as obsolete.

From Mozilla

[LJWatson]

We looked at the interoperability of contextmenu in #502 and found that is implemented in Gecko (Firefox) and Blink (Chrome), and also Blink (Opera) behind the flag. It therefore meets the interoperability requirements for remaining in HTML.

[SebastianZ]

As stated in issue #502, the feature is now only available via the command line parameter --enable-blink-features=ContextMenu in Blink-based browsers.

@kciray8 I've updated the browser compatibility information for the contextmenu attribute on MDN and added a page for the related HTMLElement.contextMenu.

Sebastian

[chaals]

Let's watch this still, to make sure it gets better not worse.

Although it seems that the most serious web compatibility issue - a page at apple.com that used it incorrectly - has been fixed. In any event, it should be reviewed to determine whether it belongs in the at-risk category when 5.2 goes to CR, so I'll make and apply the labels for that.

[AndySky21]

This could appear as a minor issue, but I'd like to ask for it nonetheless.
Is there a chance that <menu> might remain in the spec in its missing-type-default state of toolbar? It would be semantically relevant for grouping javascript-backed commands to be used on a related object (e.g. an editable block, a textarea, a canvas) without requiring too much effort to support it. Authors could then use their own solutions to make it contextual if necessary, while waiting for a future implementation.
I don't know if many authors are concerned with standard compliance as I am. As of now, even the simplest use of this element is impossible because it could be removed at any time.

[chaals]

@AndySky21, you wrote

Is there a chance that <menu> might remain in the spec in its missing-type-default state of toolbar

You can build javascript against anything, whether it's in the spec or not. But it's unlikely to stay there if there isn't a lot of evidence of implementation.

[chaals]

Closing this issue in favour of dealing with the whole mess in #274

It's likely that we'll drop everything that isn't a contextmenu, and match that part of the spec to Firefox' implementation which seems pretty reasonable.

But even that part will be marked at risk for HTML 5.2 - although it is one of the top-20 most popular bugs for Chromium, it doesn't seem anyone will implement it within the 5.2 timeline…

@travisleithead ping