- From: Bill Mason <w3c@accessibleinter.net>
- Date: Wed, 02 May 2007 21:18:33 -0700
- To: HTML WG <public-html@w3.org>
Anne van Kesteren wrote: > > On Wed, 02 May 2007 21:14:27 +0200, Roger Johansson > <roger@456bereastreet.com> wrote: >> On 2 maj 2007, at 10.27, Anne van Kesteren wrote: >> >>> Indeed. At least summary= is often abused by authors: "Table used for >>> layout", "Grid of 3 by 2 cells", etc. >> >> If "abused by authors" is a valid criterion for removing an attribute >> or element, writing the HTML 5 spec should take no more than a couple >> of hours. > > I meant misunderstood. I believe another reason was that the use case > was not particularly clear. Since HTML5 is not really based on HTML4 > it's not really about dropping attributes, but rather adding attributes > for good reason. I don't think such a reason was found for summary=. > Tables haven't been debated much though. A number of the examples offered for headers previously [1] are also applicable as use cases for summary, since the use case for summary often is to describe tables with a "complex structure (for example, when there are several sets of row or column headers, or when there are multiple groups of columns or rows)". [2] (See also [3]). In particular are these examples: http://www.usability.com.au/resources/tables.cfm#id http://www.webaim.org/techniques/tables/data.php#summaries http://www.doit.wisc.edu/accessibility/online-course/standards/tables.htm#beyond508 As summary is used currently as an accessibility aid, and it does have an installed base of screen readers that support the attribute, I would suggest it be included in the HTML5 spec. [1] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2007May/0212.html [2] http://www.w3.org/TR/2006/WD-WCAG20-TECHS-20060427/Overview.html#H73 [3] http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-HTML-TECHS/#table-summary-info -- Bill Mason Accessible Internet w3c@accessibleinter.net http://accessibleinter.net/
Received on Thursday, 3 May 2007 04:18:38 UTC