RE: operational concept for table browsing

TV wrote:

Given knowledge of the table dimensions the user needs to be able to
navigate
  dimensions --number of rows and columns.either using relative movement
(left
  dimensions --number of rows and columns.right up down)
or using absolute  goto movements ie goto cell i,j


Brilliant idea.

Since this this is presentational, should this be the job of the style
sheet
To build up the 'picture' of the table (dimensions, spans etc) then
present
this to the end user as requested? This calls on Jasons idea of being
able to manipulate content for presentation.
Simple arrow key interaction would do (minimally), but the presentation
and CSS capabiities for that interaction, without help from the browser,
would be a challenge. 
Spanning: Suggest that the 'nominally empty' cells be shown as such.
ie.
if cols 1 and 2 are taken up with a header, then col 1 'contains' the 
content, cell 2 is 'empty', cell 3 being the next one to hold content.