Re: headers attribute

At 17:28 +0200 UTC, on 2007-06-02, Leif Halvard Silli wrote:

> On 2007-06-02 11:18:46 +0200 Sander Tekelenburg <st@isoc.nl> wrote:

[...]

[authoring *both* scope and headers --
<http://webrepair.org/02strategy/03known%20systems.php>]

>> From an authoring standpoint it makes
>> sense to use both, because one UA might only support headers and another
>>only
>> scope. You reach a bigger audience by providing both. [...]
>
> You only think of a situation where the UA can support _either_ SCOPE _or_
> HEADERS. What if it supports both, as HTML4 quite clearly intends that UAs do
> (or else, authors could not choose «according to which is more convenient»)?
>
> Can you imagine a situation where the screen reader first present the SCOPE
> view of who the header cells are, and then the HEADERS view of who they are?
> That would be utterly confusing for users.

I'm not so sure. For one, as you say, depending on whether the user looks at
a header or a data cell, *either* scope or headers will be useful. The more
complex a table, the more useful it will be to not only be able to first get
an overview with the help of scope, but to then still have headers as an aide
when you're descending into the data cells.

For another, isn't it the UA's job to serve the user? If, in a given case,
providing both scope and headers would indeed be confusing to users, it would
seem to me it is the UA's job to solve that -- magicly choose to use either
one, or let the user configure which to use. Better yet, provide acces to
both in a manner that is  useful, not confusing.


-- 
Sander Tekelenburg
The Web Repair Initiative: <http://webrepair.org/>

Received on Sunday, 3 June 2007 17:02:30 UTC