The HTML element • Hacker News Board

The <usermedia> HTML element

#1

Post by twapi » Wed, Jul 01, 2026, 11:56 PM UTC

The HTML element
developer.chrome.com

Re: The <usermedia> HTML element

#2

Post by rho138 » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 12:19 AM UTC

This won’t get abused. /s

Re: The <usermedia> HTML element

#3

Post by saagarjha » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 12:25 AM UTC

rho138 wrote: post #2

This won’t get abused. /s

How do you see it being abused?

Re: The <usermedia> HTML element

#4

Post by usr1106 » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 12:30 AM UTC

Is this Chrome only or something the other browsers are working on, too? A quick web search does not seem to produce any relevant hits.

Re: The <usermedia> HTML element

#5

Post by unfocso » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 12:31 AM UTC

saagarjha wrote: post #3

rho138 wrote: post #2

This won’t get abused. /s

How do you see it being abused?

"Press here to view the content", there's already plenty in the wild that grant access to notifications with deceptive buttons.

Re: The <usermedia> HTML element

#6

Post by asqueella » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 12:38 AM UTC

usr1106 wrote: post #4

Is this Chrome only or something the other browsers are working on, too? A quick web search does not seem to produce any relevant hits.

Seems Chrome-only for now. But the spec (Working draft) has an editor from Mozilla as well, so maybe someday... https://w3c.github.io/mediacapture-extensions/#the-usermedia...

Re: The <usermedia> HTML element

#7

Post by phantomathkg » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 12:42 AM UTC

Chrome basically is abusing its market position, 69.65% globally, and becomes the new IE. Implementing its own HTML/JS standard.

The sad truth is, some companies will look at Statcounter[0] and say because Firefox does not reach 5% global population and decided not supporting it, actively or passively.

[0]: https://gs.statcounter.com/

Re: The <usermedia> HTML element

#8

Post by akersten » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 12:52 AM UTC

Uughh why do we need this whole new html element and not simply make the getUserMedia API allowed to be called more than once if the initiator is a user click?

Re: The <usermedia> HTML element

#9

Post by cwmoore » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 12:58 AM UTC

unfocso wrote: post #5

saagarjha wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you see it being abused?

"Press here to view the content", there's already plenty in the wild that grant access to notifications with deceptive buttons.

“targeted and functional controls for accessing camera and microphone streams”

Re: The <usermedia> HTML element

#10

Post by zdragnar » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 1:06 AM UTC

phantomathkg wrote: post #7

Chrome basically is abusing its market position, 69.65% globally, and becomes the new IE. Implementing its own HTML/JS standard. The sad truth is, some companies will look at Statcounter[0] and say because Firefox does not reach 5% global population and decided not supporting it, actively or passively. [0]: https://gs.statcounter.com/

This is literally how the standards are meant to work, at least on the JS side. The tc39 process requires at least two live implementations to exist before a spec can move to finished.

In this case, there's also people from Mozilla onboard, so there's no guarantee that it'll remain chrome only or that chrome will keep it if the spec doesn't go anywhere.

In fact, much of the web as we know it evolved this way. We have IE to thank for AJAX, after all.