Re: function and impacts (was: @scope and @headers reform)

Gez Lemon wrote:
> If nested headers are allowed in HTML5, I think that algorithm could work 
> very well.

On this specific point, there's been a bit more discussion in #whatwg:

<http://krijnhoetmer.nl/irc-logs/whatwg/20080926#l-238>

Here's a couple of examples where knowing the header cells which relate to 
header cells seems useful:

[[[
Hixie, you sometimes need to understand the context of a header cell as you 
move through a table non-visually. A table I wrote recently, in the 
"Comparison of Techniques" section here: 
http://projectcerbera.com/blog/2008/09/untangle

if you're moving down the 2nd column, it's probably useful to hear when 
you've moved out of the "Test File" section into the "Corrected" section, 
etc

another one from me, a bit older, at the bottom of this page: 
http://projectcerbera.com/web/articles/breadcrumbs-markup

moving across the 2nd row, it's probably useful to hear when you moved out 
of "Filesize (bytes)" column group and into the "Familiar" column group
]]]

IIRC, these arrangements do happen outside of my own website. :-) They are 
just what I had closest to hand.

A bit earlier on was some discussion of what differences exist between the 
HTML5 algorithm and the Smart Headers algorithm, and *exactly* what the 
Smart Headers algorithm is:

* <http://krijnhoetmer.nl/irc-logs/whatwg/20080926#l-205>

James Graham has written the only comprehensive description of Smart Headers 
in one place, that I know of:

<http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2008Mar/0075.html>

Bits and pieces of it have been discussed in detail individually on-list and 
in #whatwg. The algorithm continues to develop.

The HTML5 algorithm is here:

<http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/tabular.html#header-and-data-cell-semantics>

AFAIK, there isn't an exact description of all the differences in one place. 
They have been discussed by various participants in various threads during 
the past year and a half. In the threads I've seen, only one or two 
differences were discussed at a time.

Summarising the functional differences on the Wiki could be a useful thing 
to do? I'm currently a bit too busy to do that, though.

-- 
Ben 'Cerbera' Millard
<http://projectcerbera.com/web/study/>

Received on Friday, 26 September 2008 07:01:30 UTC