Re: smart verbosity for table headers (was: headers= and rowgroup)

On 2007-09-16 03:19:25 +0200 "Ben 'Cerbera' Millard" <cerbera@projectcerbera.com> wrote:

> "Mainstream" tables are those which appear on websites with a broad appeal 
> (i.e. mainstream websites). [...]
> Premier League [soccer results] table, for example.

Ok. Not common table set ups, necessarily, but tables which many read.

There is one kind of tables which many read, which you perhaps haven't thought about: online web forums. 

> A strategy which requires specialists to author every table is good for me. 
> That would guarantee I'll always have paying work! But relying on a handful 
> of specialists to retrofit accessibility to every table ever written would 
> take a very long time. That's why I'm looking into new algorithms to make 
> tables automatically accessible. Several others are helping with this. The 
> more the merrier, I say. :-)

This is nice, I think, but many are afraid - as you know -  if the cost will be to loose @headers.

> Leif Halvard Silli wrote:
>> I can only encourage you to go on with that.
> 
> Why be so unambitious? You can work pro-actively on table accessibility! 
> Everyone can!

I considered adding  «!» or a «:-)». But I did not want to go completely overboard.

> For example, you could see how common it is for tables to be deliberately 
> optimised for use with the HTML4 basic algorithm. You could find ATs which 
> implement the HTML4 table algorithm. You could annotate real-world tables to 
> see how effective the HTML4 algorithm is in the tables authors are producing. 
> There's all sorts of helpful research you could be doing.

I am interested in doing those kinds of research - and have begun a little bit.

> You might surprise yourself. Things I'm finding while collecting data tables 
> are surprising me. You might surprise us all. But you'll only find out if you 
> try.

I did a little digging into what kind of tables are common on the Norwegian web ... It was not a positive surprise ...
-- 
leif halvard silli

Received on Sunday, 16 September 2007 03:51:10 UTC