"Headers Attribute" issue

This writeup:

   http://esw.w3.org/topic/HTML/IssueTableHeaders

...is fantastic! This is exactly the kind of research and detail that I 
had in mind. Please do continue along these lines. Advocates of other 
issues, take note, the bar has been set high! :-)

One of the things that might be helpful with this particular issue also is 
looking at:

 * How headers/id has actually helped accessibility. For example, how 
   has the table at the bottom of this page:

   http://www.federalreserve.gov/generalinfo/basel2/docs2005/potentialimpact.htm

   ...been made _more_ accessible with its use of headers? (In
   particular, it seems to me that having a table cell with six headers 
   might in fact have a negative effect on accessibility.)

 * How this problem is solved in other environments, for example how 
   spreadsheet systems report header information to operating system 
   accessibility APIs, how PDF handles header information with table 
   cells, how complex tables in other scenarios expose their information 
   to the user, and so forth.

It's important to remember, with this issue, that the goal is to make 
tables more usable by (typically disabled) users. Whatever solution (or 
solutions) we use have to be shown to be the solutions that are most 
effective at conveying the information to the end user and allowing the 
user to interact with the table.

Cheers,
-- 
Ian Hickson               U+1047E                )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
http://ln.hixie.ch/       U+263A                /,   _.. \   _\  ;`._ ,.
Things that are impossible just take longer.   `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'

Received on Thursday, 7 June 2007 00:34:45 UTC