Re: Structure in Data-Tables

> The question is, which html-elements and which contents are allowed inside a
> data-table, too keep it as accessible and as flexible as possible.

As a hard rule, absolutely nothing which the spec allows (and the spec allows
pretty much any visible element) should be forbidden. It's hard to see of a
case for nested tables, but if nested tables somehow fit into your data table
then go ahead and use them.

As a rule of thumb, as little as possible should be allowed. If it's possible to
use a single block of unformatted text consistently then do so, add further
formatting only as needed or when it provides a clear advantage over the bare
minimum (e.g. don't avoid <acronym> just to stick by this rule).

The main thing here is to have the choice of elements follow the data encoded,
rather than the other way around.

As a general design guideline, be consistent throughout the table; if you use
block elements in most of the <td> elements then you should use them for all of
the <td> elements, or at least for all that are similar (on the same row and/or
column, in the same <tbody> etc.)

-- 
Jon Hanna
<http://www.hackcraft.net/>
"…it has been truly said that hackers have even more words for
equipment failures than Yiddish has for obnoxious people." - jargon.txt

Received on Monday, 10 May 2004 11:45:03 UTC