- From: Lachlan Hunt <lachlan.hunt@lachy.id.au>
- Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2007 02:59:46 +1000
- To: "Gregory J. Rosmaita" <oedipus@hicom.net>
- CC: public-html@w3.org
Gregory J. Rosmaita wrote: > 1. poor authoring practices should NOT sway or inform our decisions -- if > markup is being misused, we need to be more precise in the definitions of > elements and properties, AND we must insist that -- just as ALT is > required for an image -- summary be a REQUIRED attribute of the TABLE > element No, even if the summary attribute were added to HTML5, it certainly shouldn't be required. From the WCAG Samurai [1]: | # You have more than one way to explain the purpose of data tables | (including the use of plain-text explanations), so there is no reason | to require the use of the summary attribute, which, by specification, | is hidden from anyone who can see, including persons with | disabilities. | ... | # Guideline 5.5: The summary attribute, by specification, cannot be | manifested visually. HTML provides numerous ways of clarifying the | purpose of tables (caption, summary, headers), and the same thing can | also be done by explaining a table in plain text. When we say you must | ignore this guideline, we mean you must ignore the requirement to use | summary. [1] http://wcagsamurai.org/errata/intro.html -- Lachlan Hunt http://lachy.id.au/
Received on Monday, 18 June 2007 17:00:02 UTC