- From: Charles McCathieNevile <charlesn@sunrise.srl.rmit.edu.au>
- Date: Fri, 3 Jul 1998 05:42:04 +1000 (EST)
- To: Gregg Vanderheiden <po@trace.wisc.edu>
- cc: "'GL - WAI Guidelines WG'" <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
Actually, I thoroughly disagree. The use of tables to provide formatting is simply poor practice for accessibility, and it should be made clear that this is so. Instead we should point out that until browsers implement CSS there is no accessible way to provide pixel-level positioning. Probably about the same place that we point out why different sized display devices (not to mention braille displays etc) mean that providing absolute positioning is foolish. We might as well write guidelines for how to do it right. If people want to use the medium incorrectly for an effect they thinik they are getting, then we ought to point out to them why they shouldn't (x.y Use a proper DTD, and use the elements properly) and hope that some of them actually listen. If they are told that table-forced layout is inaccessible then they will realise that to meet the guidelines they hvae to find some other mechanism - an alternative format, or convince their graphic designer that varying spatial layout is now part of the brief. Charles McCathieNevile
Received on Thursday, 2 July 1998 16:03:13 UTC