Re: Check TABLE elements for valid "summary" attribute (Technique 5.5.1 )

The techniques document published on 11 February does include this 
qualification.
<blockquote>
Provide a summary via the "summary" attribute. Summaries are especially 
useful for non-visual readers. A summary of the relationships among cells 
is especially important for tables with nested headings, cells that span 
multiple columns or rows, or other relationships that may not be obvious 
from analyzing the structure of the table but that may be apparent in a 
visual rendering of the table. A summary may also describe how the table 
fits into the context of the current document. If no caption is provided, 
it is even more critical to provide a summary. Two examples
</blockquote>
--wendy

At 09:07 PM 2/20/00 , Leonard R. Kasday wrote:

>At 05:49 PM 2/18/00 -0500, Wendy A Chisholm wrote:
>>Evaluation:TABLE elements should have a valid "summary" attribute for 
>>table where it is difficult to determine the relationship among cells.
>
>I think this qualification is a definite help.  However, the guidelines 
>and the techniques document still omit this qualifiaction.
>
>cf. http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/#gl-table-markup
>
>and
>
>http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/WCAG10-HTML-TECHS/#tables
>
>I think it would be best to explicitly say that summaries, as well as 
>other advanced markup like THEAD, etc be required only when they cannot be 
>deduced from the straightforward table interpretation algorithm... except 
>for a case mentioned below
>
>
>http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/struct/tables.html#h-11.4.3
>
>
>I was thinking for a while that they could be included in the "until 
>browsers" section... but browser/screenreaders will-- or alt least 
>should-- be able to interpret the algorithm before then anyway.
>
>-----
>The one place where summaries would be useful, aside from headers 
>arrangments that can't be deduced from the algorithm, would be  when the 
>data in the table, as opposed to the headings, show a pattern that is 
>visually evident but difficult to perceive by listening to the table.
>
>Len
>
>
>-------
>Leonard R. Kasday, Ph.D.
>Institute on Disabilities/UAP, and
>Department of Electrical Engineering
>Temple University
>423 Ritter Annex, Philadelphia, PA 19122
>
>kasday@acm.org
>http://astro.temple.edu/~kasday
>
>(215) 204-2247 (voice)
>(800) 750-7428 (TTY)

--
wendy a chisholm
world wide web consortium
web accessibility initiative
madison, wi usa
tel: +1 608 663 6346
/--

Received on Tuesday, 22 February 2000 16:55:13 UTC