Re: table/@summary, Re: ISSUE-4: Versioning, namespace URIs and MIME types

On Tue, 17 Feb 2009, Julian Reschke wrote:
> Ian Hickson wrote:
> > ...
> > In fact, the main argument against keeping <table summary=""> is that legacy
> > content has abused it so badly that it is unusable. So the argument is
> > effectively the same one here.
> 
> Did you look at James' latest mail?
> 
> <http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2009Feb/0379.html>

Yes. It is encouraging that certain users are in fact able to navigate the 
Web without coming across the overwhelmingly bad uses of summary="". It is 
also good to have anecdotal evidence that counters the earlier anecdotal 
evidence from a similar user saying the opposite. What we really need is 
more solid and objective data. Usability studies are notorious for showing 
that users don't actually recognise usability problems that they are 
exposed to. I can't count the number of times I've seen users in usability 
studies say things that flatly contradict the actual measured facts of 
their own behaviour and experiences.

-- 
Ian Hickson               U+1047E                )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
http://ln.hixie.ch/       U+263A                /,   _.. \   _\  ;`._ ,.
Things that are impossible just take longer.   `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'

Received on Tuesday, 17 February 2009 23:10:52 UTC