Re: Use and abuse of @summary

Here is the iCITA best practices rules for accessible tables:

http://html.cita.uiuc.edu/nav/dtable/dtable-rules.php

The rules help to decide if a table is:
1. Layout table
2. Simple data table
3. Complex data table

These rules have been implemented in the RC1 release of the Illinois Functional Accessibility Evaluator:

http://faetest.dres.uiuc.edu

Jon




---- Original message ----
>Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2009 10:30:51 -0600
>From: Robert J Burns <rob@robburns.com>  
>Subject: Re: Use and abuse of @summary  
>To: "Simon Pieters" <simonp@opera.com>
>Cc: "Steven Faulkner" <faulkner.steve@gmail.com>, "Ian Hickson" <ian@hixie.ch>, "HTML WG" <public-html@w3.org>, "Janina Sajka" <janina@rednote.net>, "W3C WAI Protocols  Formats" <w3c-wai-pf@w3.org>, wai-liaison@w3.org
>
>   HI Simon,
>   On Feb 18, 2009, at 8:16 AM, Simon Pieters wrote:
>
>     On Wed, 18 Feb 2009 11:20:32 +0100, Steven
>     Faulkner <faulkner.steve@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>       On digging into philips data a little bit and
>       measuring its effect upon
>
>       users who's screen reading software provides
>       access to the information it is
>
>       found that in the overwhelming majority of cases
>       the incorrect uses of
>
>       @summary are not announced to screan reader
>       users. Why? Because screen
>
>       reading software (JAWS and Window eyes) that
>       supports @summary also uses
>
>       heuristics to suppress the announcement of
>       layout tables to users
>
>     I think it would be useful to specify an algorithm
>     for deciding whether a table is a layout table or
>     not -- not just for deciding whether or not to use
>     summary='' but also e.g. for deciding whether <td>
>     should be a sectioning root or not.
>
>   I agree. I think it might also be useful to specify
>   an attribute to allow authors to indicate a layout
>   table as well (which could then be incorporated into
>   the algorithm).
>   Take care,
>   Rob
Jon Gunderson, Ph.D.
Coordinator Information Technology Accessibility
Disability Resources and Educational Services

Rehabilitation Education Center
Room 86
1207 S. Oak Street
Champaign, Illinois 61821

Voice: (217) 244-5870

WWW: http://www.cita.uiuc.edu/
WWW: https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/jongund/www/

Received on Wednesday, 18 February 2009 17:52:17 UTC