User activation is the mechanism to maintain active-user-interaction state that limits use of "abusable" APIs (e.g. opening popups or vibrating). The web exposed behavior varies widely among major browsers. To unify the web, this feature defines a new user activation model that is simple enough for cross-browser implementation. The main changes introduced by this model are: (a) there is no concept of token passing, and (b) activation visibility changes from stack-scoped to frame-scoped.

Demos

• https://mustaqahmed.github.io/user-activation-v2/propagation/
• https://mustaqahmed.github.io/user-activation-v2/api-consistency/setTimeout.html

Documentation

• https://mustaqahmed.github.io/user-activation-v2/
• https://docs.google.com/document/d/1erpl1yqJlc1pH0QvVVmi1s3WzqQLsEXTLLh6VuYp228
• https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XL3vCedkqL65ueaGVD-kfB5RnnrnTaxLc7kmU91oerg

Specification

Specification link

Status: Specification currently under development in a Working Group

Status in Chromium

Blink components: Blink>Input

Implementation status: Enabled by default (tracking bug)

Consensus & Standardization

• Firefox: No signal
• Edge: No signal
• Safari: No signal
• Web Developers: Positive

Owner

• mustaq@chromium.org

Comments

Another popular (but misleading) term that often denotes user activation is "user gesture". For example a swipe or flick gesture by the user does not activate a page, and hence is not from a script standpoint a user gesture.

Last updated on 2020-11-09