Review of 3.15.1. The table element

Hello!

I have reviewed the 3.15.1. "The table element" section [1]. Here are my  
corrections.


1. "Big Issue: we need some editorial text on how layout tables are bad  
practice and non-conforming"

Here's my try:

"Due to historic reasons, tables are being used by Web authors for  
designing layouts. However, this is considered bad practice and it's  
strongly discouraged. As a conformance criteria, layout tables are  
disallowed. Web authors must only use tables for tabular data."

I think this has to be short and to the point - no dramatic depiction of  
the layout tables abuse.



2. "The caption DOM attribute must return, on getting, the first caption  
element child of the table element. On setting, if the new value is a  
caption element, the first caption element child of the table element, if  
any, must be removed, and the new value must be inserted as the first node  
of the table element. If the new value is not a caption element, then a  
HIERARCHY_REQUEST_ERR DOM exception must be raised instead."

The spec does not define the returned value for the caption DOM attribute  
when there's no caption element child in the table element.

I would suggest the following update for the first phrase:

"The caption DOM attribute must return, on getting, the first caption  
element child of the table element, if any, or otherwise null."



3. Similarly to the above:

"The tHead DOM attribute must return, on getting, the first thead element  
child of the table element."

Suggested text:

"The tHead DOM attribute must return, on getting, the first thead element  
child of the table element, if any, or otherwise null."


The same goes for the tFoot DOM attribute.



4. Looking at the definition of the tr element [2] one can see some errors:

"The rowIndex *element* must, if the element has a parent table element,  
or a parent tbody, thead, or tfoot element and a grandparent table  
element, return the index of the tr element in that table element's rows  
collection. If there is no such table element, then the attribute must  
return 0.

The *rowIndex* DOM attribute must, if the element has a parent table,  
tbody, thead, or tfoot element, return the index of the tr element in the  
parent element's rows collection (for tables, that's the rows collection;  
for table sections, that's the rows collection). If there is no such  
parent element, then the attribute must return 0."

Corrections:

element = DOM attribute
rowIndex = sectionRowIndex



5. In the 3.15.11.1. "Forming a table" section [3] there's an editorial  
"error" when defining the processing for colgroups:

"Column groups. Process the current element according to the appropriate  
one of the following two cases:"

I would suggest:

"Column groups. Process the current element according to one of the  
following two cases:"

That's about all for now.




[1]  
http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/section-tabular.html#tabular
[2]  
http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/section-tabular.html#the-tr
[3]  
http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/section-tabular.html#forming


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Received on Wednesday, 22 August 2007 16:14:55 UTC