Re: compliance and layout tables revisited

Whether we use CSS or tables is, as Phill says, not the only point, and the
one that was deemed most important to WCAG was about linearising sensibly -
WCAG checkpoint 6.1 about making sure CSS-based pages make sense without CSS
(question - is a broken CSS implementation "without style sheets"?) as well
as 5.3 making sure that table layouts work in linear format recognise this
(and a few other things).

In the medium term there is an issue with using tables for layout - it means
that serialising browsers have to be built not just to apply appropriate
styling, but also to rewrite the HTML itself.

cheers

Chaals

On Sat, 11 May 2002, Phill Jenkins wrote:


  Whether we use CSS or tables for layout is *not* the point - it's that it
  linearizes correctly!  Same concept as correct or logical tab order.  As
  you read a page, you want it to be read in a logical order.

  Adding DIV's in a confusing order and putting in layout CSS is just as
  confusing as bad layout tables.    Both require the author and or tool to
  consider how the page will be rendered in a serial fashion, not just the 2
  d visual rendering in a graphical browser.

  Regards,
  Phill Jenkins
  IBM Research Division - Accessibility Center




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Received on Saturday, 11 May 2002 15:43:35 UTC