Re: Taking another round at @summary

Denis asked:
> What garantee do we have that authors would provide a better, more  
> suitable description for content associated with aria- 
> describedby="table-description" referenced somewhere else in the  
> page with <div id="table-description">This-table-presents-blah-blah- 
> blah...</div> than they already do for a simple description with
> <table summary="this-table-presents-blah-blah-blah..."></table>?

Because invisible data rots (see: <meta> keywords).

http://tantek.com/log/2005/06.html#d03t2359

That's a crucial difference between @summary and aria-describedby. The  
contents of aria-describedby can be made invisible, if the author  
wishes. The contents of @summary cannot be made visible.

Personally, I think that this distinction that @summary draws between  
users of AT and other users isn't a helpful one. If history has taught  
us anything, it's that accessibility features turn out to be useful  
for everyone (e.g. the invention of the typewriter or closed  
captioning on television).

-- 
Jeremy Keith

a d a c t i o

http://adactio.com/

Received on Friday, 8 January 2010 00:08:16 UTC