GP was addressing the client-side UX, not backend validation, which is an orthogonal concern.

Where did I say to forgo backend validation? Of course you validate on the backend as well, but the better UX would be to prevent the user from entering a bad value to begin with, assuming it fits within your team’s performance budget.

I’m not advocating for willy-nilly package inclusion, just highlighting a current shortcoming of datalist that is often not mentioned in these sorts of articles.

That solves the validation portion, but not the rest of the UX issues