HTML Attribute to Allow/Disallow Handwriting Input

Edge Team Explores HTML Attribute for Handwriting Control

Microsoft Edge engineers have published a proposal for a new HTML attribute that would let developers control whether handwritten input is recognized near drawing surfaces. The idea is to prevent handwriting widgets from accidentally triggering text input when a user is, say, signing a document or sketching with a stylus like the Surface Slim Pen or Apple Pencil.

<input type="text" handwriting="true" ... >
<input type="text" handwriting="false" ... >
<textarea handwriting="" ... > <!-- evaluates to "true" -->
<div contenteditable handwriting="true">...</div> <!-- maybe? -->

As explainer author Adam Ettenberger notes, a drawing widget's developer may not realize their canvas sits near an input field, and forcing them to hunt down and disable handwriting on such elements would be poor design. The team weighed several CSS and HTML alternatives—including extending pointer-events or touch-action, or reusing inputmode—before settling on a dedicated attribute.

The proposal is still early, but supporting materials are already public: a Chrome Platform Status entry and an Intent to Prototype on blink-dev. The full explainer is available on GitHub.