Re: [webwatch] Making a Table Accessible

[dropped webwatch from distribution for discussion of WAI work planning
details]

At 10:21 AM 2001-03-08 -0500, Charles McCathieNevile wrote:
>Is this something we should also be looking at adding to ATAG techniques? (I
>guess it depends in part on the results that Kelly gets...)
>

AG::

[Note that the results seem to be that Home Page Reader will pick up and use
the cell-to-header relationships as marked, but the major screen readers
don't.  For them we need to use LABEL; and it works if you use invalid HTML
and
repeat IDs in the controls so that the LABEL points at a collection of
controls
and not just one (!)]

While I want ATAG techniques defined before we put new stuff in concrete in
XHTML 2.0, the immediate process of next steps I would propose is:

I am about to kick off a redesign cycle for the interface to the W3C email
archives, where the table in the front page is a big piece of the current
problem.

So we will be doing a semi-structured design exercise with a concrete example
and I believe with cross-disability review.

Out of that experience we may have clearer things to say as regards content
and
authoring tool techniques.

Al

PS:  Your previous message is one where it pays to pay attention to the
guideline that says don't cross-post.  Our workplanning as to whether it shows
up in ATAG techniques or in some other volume on the WAI bookshelf is of low
enough interest to the WebWatch subscribers so that it is best to spare them
the mailbox clutter in this instance.


>cheers
>
>Charles
>
>On Wed, 7 Mar 2001, Al Gilman wrote:
>snip
>  There is a bug in how we did the LABEL functionality for form controls in
HTML
>  4.  Because the LABEL points to the control, instead of the other way
>  around, a
>  given LABEL can only explain one control.  In your example, the TH
values at
>  the head of the columns are clearly the LABELs for the multiple checkboxes
in
>  the column.  So:
>
>  Please experiment with upgrading the markup in the table.
>
>  Experiment #1: add a scope attribute to the column headers:
>
>  For example, what had been
>
>  <th>dial a 1</th>
>
>  becomes
>
>  <th scope='col'>dial a 1</th>
>
>  etc.
>
>  Experiment #2: use 'headers' attribute for the same information:
>
>  Here the change to the headers becomes:
>
>  <th id='123'>dial a 1</th> -- all ID values must be different from one
another
>
>  and the typical data cell entry in that column becomes
>
>  <td headers='123'><input type=checkbox></td>
>
>  There is a logical principle that we didn't spell out well enough and that
the
>  assistive technology should be applying, which is that if a hotlink or a
form
>  control appears in a table cell, the table headers associated with that
table
>  cell should be treated as effective control labels of the form control or
>  hyperlink.
>

Received on Thursday, 8 March 2001 10:54:07 UTC