RE: Table Captions and Summaries

> We're running into a bit of a conundrum here with regard to 
> table captions 
> and summaries. At the moment, most of our data tables will 
> have both. When 
> there is no caption, there is a summary. However with both a 
> caption and 
> table summary, it's getting redundant since we specifically word the 
> caption to explain exactly what's in the table.
> 
> In cases where we have a table caption, should we say "See 
> table caption 
> for an explanation of this table." for the summary? Or should 
> we just give 
> the summary attribute a null value.

I'm not sure your captions are really captions here. The caption should act
as a title rather than as a detailed explanation.
If the summary is *truly* redundant just leave the attribute out (it's there
to aid accessibility, not to aid passing a given accessibility test).

Regards,
Jon Hanna
Work: <http://www.selkieweb.com/>
Play: <http://www.hackcraft.net/>
Chat: <irc://irc.freenode.net/selkie>

Received on Friday, 14 January 2005 15:43:24 UTC