#679: Conditional Focus (When Display-Capture Starts)

Visit on Github.

Opened Sep 22, 2021

Braw mornin' TAG!

I'm requesting a TAG review of Conditional Focus.

When an application starts capturing a display-surface, the user agent faces a decision - should the captured display-surface be brought to the forefront, or should the capturing application retain focus.

The user agent is mostly agnostic of the nature of the capturing and captured applications, and is therefore ill-positioned to make an informed decision.

In contrast, the capturing application is familiar with its own properties, and is therefore better suited to make this decision. Moreover, by reading displaySurface and/or using Capture Handle, the capturing application can learn about the captured display-surface, driving an even more informed decision.

Further details:

  • I have reviewed the TAG's Web Platform Design Principles
  • Relevant time constraints or deadlines: N/A
  • The group where the work on this specification is currently being done: WebRTC WG
  • The group where standardization of this work is intended to be done (if current group is a community group or other incubation venue): WebRTC WG and/or WICG
  • Major unresolved issues with or opposition to this specification: N/A
  • This work is being funded by: Google

You should also know that...

We'd prefer the TAG provide feedback as (please delete all but the desired option):

💬 leave review feedback as a comment in this issue and @-notify @eladalon1983

Discussions

2021-09-27

Minutes

Amy: it's in a private repo

Dan: if this is part of webrtc why isn't it going on in webrtc wg

Amy: It's in WICG now. And discussion in webrtc - long and active, looks like detailed technical discussion. Odd they're asking for TAG review if they're still working out details?

Dan:

Hi @eladalon1983 - Looking at the [thread in WebRTC](https://github.com/w3c/mediacapture-screen-share/issues/190), it looks like this is still under active discussion. If so, it seems like it might be premature for the TAG to be reviewing this?  Is the plan to incubate this in WICG and then bring it to WebRTC for a future WebRTC rechartering?

Amy: short security/privacy stuff.. can dig in and see if there's anything else we should flag on that.

Dan: I'll assign us

Sangwhan: mismatch between different browser vendors on how many people work on webrtc, causes interop issues

2021-12-Madripoor

Minutes

Amy: all of the use cases are from the perspective of the user agent... the browser needs to x, etc... no privacy & security review... About the browser deciding what needs to be in focus... They've not explained why it might benefit the user... One security concern about clickjacking...

Hello, @torgo and I looking at this in our virtual face-to-face today. We noticed the problem statement in the explainer is from the perspective of the user agent, rather than the end user. Would you mind adding some examples/use cases/scenarios of how the end user of an application benefits or is affected by this feature? We appreciate that you have noted one security concern in the explainer; do you have an idea of when you will be able to complete the [privacy and security questionnaire](https://www.w3.org/TR/security-privacy-questionnaire/)? Are you expecting to take this work to the WebRTC WG?
2022-01-31

Minutes

Amy: we asked for updated explainer and privacy & security. No update yet. They said they hope to reach an agreed api shape in january or earlier with webrtc wg so we could ask about that

Dan: [writes comment]

Sangwhan: trying the demo, it makes perfect sense what they're doing here

2022-04-04

Minutes

Dan: on 22nd feb said they'll get back in the next few weeks, haven't heard. Ping again?

Sangwhan: I don't think this has been worked on recently

2022-04-18

Minutes

bumped 3 weeks as Elad got back to us and said it was still in the pipeline.

2022-06-27

Minutes

Amy: seems stalled by the requester

Dan: closing for now, can reopen when it's ready for review

closed