While on this subject, the HTML specs for WCAG 2 says: If the summary is used on a layout tables, the value must be null (summary="") But at times I see summaries like "layout table, or Summary: Generic navigation options, search function, left hand navigational links, etc. The use of summary as an invisible caption is a useful cue at times. The fact is when a screen reader announces that it has encountered a table, the user might try to explore around with table navigation keys to determine if it is a data table or not. The summary will obviate the need for such exploration. (Note: screen readers do not have uniform algorithms to identify layout and data tables. And they do not work reliably. JAWS for instance at times announces a layout table even when set to recognize data tables only. So till such time that there is a precise algorithm and screen readers can reliably announce only data tables, summary for layout tables may not be a bad thing after all. Sailesh Panchang Senior Accessibility Engineer Deque Systems,11180 Sunrise Valley Drive, 4th Floor, Reston VA 20191 Tel: 703-225-0380 Extension 105 E-mail: sailesh.panchang@deque.com Fax: 703-225-0387 * Look up <http://www.deque.com> *Received on Friday, 16 April 2004 13:03:08 GMT
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