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HTMLButtonElement - setCustomValidity(): Specify button type availability

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#42234 opened on Dec 4, 2025

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Content:WebAPIhelp wanted

Description

MDN URL

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/HTMLButtonElement/setCustomValidity

What specific section or headline is this issue about?

No response

What information was incorrect, unhelpful, or incomplete?

Subsequent to spending a few hours testing and looking for the relevant information, I found out from #dom:mozilla.org that the specification only allows HTMLButtonElement: setCustomValidity() method for button type="submit".

It would be beneficial to include the information on MDN to prevent further confusion.

Similarly, HTMLButtonElement: reportValidity() would benefit from further clarification, as given in HTMLFieldSetElement: reportValidity()

It always returns true because <fieldset> elements are never candidates for constraint validation.

Ref: Constraint validation

What did you expect to see?

A notice to say that method only produces a visual effect for button type="submit"

Do you have any supporting links, references, or citations?

No response

Do you have anything more you want to share?

No response

MDN metadata

Contributor guide

Tech stack
htmljavascript
Domain
documentation
Issue type
documentation
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
2
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
under 1 hour
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
active
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of HTML constraint validation
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
80
Research direction
The issue is to update the MDN documentation for `HTMLButtonElement.setCustomValidity()` to clarify that it only works for `button type="submit"`. The file to edit is `files/en us/web/api/htmlbuttonelement/setcustomvalidity/index.md`. Additionally, consider updating `HTMLButtonElement.reportValidity()` similarly, as mentioned in the issue. Refer to the HTML spec constraint validation section. Test the change by ensuring it aligns with the spec and existing MDN documentation style.