: Is datetime-local removed from HTML 5.1? HTML5 seemingly introduces these two input types: datetime (with a timezone) datetime-local (without a timezone) Even though both are present on the W3C

@Shanna517

The datetime-local state is part of:


WHATWG’s HTML (Living Standard) (as of 2014-03-14)
W3C’s HTML5 (Candidate Recommendation) from 2014-02-04
W3C’s HTML 5.1 (Working Draft) from 2014-02-04


But it’s not anymore in the HTML 5.1 (Editor’s Draft) from 2014-03-17.

It was removed in a commit from 2014-02-11:


Removing the definition of input type="datetime-local" and its sections
and references.




This was proposed in the mail <input type=datetime-local> HTML5 CR bugs from 2014-01-14.

Here is the thread where the removal got discussed in reply: RE: <input type=datetime-local> HTML5 CR bugs [I18N-ACTION-279]


Our concern is, indeed, that “datetime-local” falsely implies local wall time (and thus a time zone). Developers are not good at identifying floating times as it is.
[…]
I would add that floating timestamps (date and time are significant) are the least common case. Usually at that point you want to compute a local time value using time zone information. Generally, the use of floating time requires some forethought by developers to keep from getting into trouble. I could support removing datetime-local as a result. If it’s kept, I think I18N would prefer it to be renamed to include the word “floating” instead of the misleading “local”.


It seems that it won’t be removed from WHATWG’s HTML (at least for now). As this might lead to divergences, the topic may be discussed on the next HTML WG meeting.

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