Re: Discussion: Accessibility Issues Procedure

Sam Ruby wrote:
> Option #4 is to toss out some general and somewhat vague ideas of 
> what a straw poll might look like and hope that somebody else 
> continues with #3.

To attempt to do this:

The summary attribute on the table element has existed since HTML 4.0,
and is defined in HTML 4.01 as follows:

> summary = text [CS]
> 
> This attribute provides a summary of the table's purpose and
> structure for user agents rendering to non-visual media such as
> speech and Braille.

Should we, the HTML WG, as proposed by the PFWG, add this attribute, as 
conforming and not obsolete, to the current "HTML 5" editor's draft?

The PFWG's rational, as given to the HTML WG, is at 
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-archive/2009Jun/0026.html

[Does any more need be said on this front, seeming the point of the 
poll, as far as I can tell, is to decide whether to follow the PFWG's 
recommendation for @summary.]

The reasons given for it currently being conforming but obsolete in the 
current draft are that it is seen by some as hurtful to accessibility, 
due to widespread misuse:

http://code.google.com/webstats/2005-12/tables.html
http://www.paciellogroup.com/blog/misc/summary.html
http://canvex.lazyilluminati.com/misc/summary-20090226.html
http://my.opera.com/ODIN/blog/2009/05/19/opera-mama-a-sneak-peek-at-headings-images-and-summary
http://philip.html5.org/data/table-summary-values-dotbot.html

It is proposed that some alternative solution by used (and added to the 
draft if needed) to fulfil the use of the summary attribute.

-- 
Geoffrey Sneddon — Opera Software
<http://gsnedders.com/>
<http://www.opera.com/>

Received on Monday, 27 July 2009 11:16:37 UTC