- From: <derrren@retroaccess.com>
- Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 11:04:06 +0100
- To: w3c-wai-er-ig@w3.org
On Mon, 14 Jan 2002, Wendy A Chisholm and Charles McCathieNevile wrote:
Hello,
Checked out RetroAccess today. Anyone else played with this?
http://www.retroaccess.com/access_enable.cgi
Here are some thoughts based on a quick check. I used the demo
version to evaluate cnn.com.
Negatives:
3. The cnn page uses lots of tables for layout. The tips
associated with all of the tables the tool identified says,
<quote>Possible data table without headers
Header rows and columns allow interpretive programs to read the
data in the table appropriately. Use the "th" tag to identify the
meanings of each row and column
</quote>
Since they are layout tables, th is not needed. This summary makes
it sound like th is required on all tables.
In fact th cells are forbidden in layout tables, according to WCAG.
5.4 If a table is used for layout, do not use any structural markup for the
purpose of visual formatting. [Priority 2]
http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/wai-pageauth.html#tech-table-layout
Actually the evaluation and repair tool, AccessEnable, is merely
flagging tables as warnings, or possible problems that require human
judgement. The key word in the warning is "possible". Since, it is
difficult to determine from the code whether or not a table is being
used for layout or data purposes, it is necessary to flag these items
and allow for human judgement. If the tables are for layout, the user
can simply choose to ignore the warning and provide a justification
note. I hope this clarifies things.
Derren
- --
- --------------------------------------------------------------
Derren Hermann Usability Specialist
dhermann@diamondbullet.com Diamond Bullet Design
www.diamondbullet.com 315 W. Huron, Suite 140
phone: 734/665-9307 Ann Arbor, MI 48103 USA
fax: 734/665-9353
Usability First --- www.usabilityfirst.com
RetroAccess, www.retroaccess.com
Opening the Internet to Everyone
Received on Wednesday, 16 January 2002 05:04:09 UTC