Please clarify ARIA definition of "grid" role

ARIA has the following definition of the "grid" role:

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<http://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria/roles#grid>
A grid contains cells of tabular data arranged in rows and columns, like a table.

Grids do not necessarily imply presentation. The grid construct describes relationships between data such that it may be used for different presentations. Grids allow the user to move focus between cells using two dimensional navigation. For example, grid might be used as the invisible data model (hidden with CSS but still operable by assistive technologies) for a presentational chart.
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This seems like an exact match for the HTML <table> element, which contains cells of tabular data arranged in rows and columns, like a table. According to Steve Faulkner, however, this role is only supposed to be used for *interactive* presentations of tabular data arranged in rows and columns. Please update the ARIA draft to make this clear. Or, if the grid role is in fact supposed to be applicable even to non-interactive presentations of tabular data, please reply with this information ASAP, since it is relevant to the ARIA role mapping in the HTML5 spec.

Regards,
Maciej

Received on Thursday, 26 August 2010 09:56:44 UTC