@headers issue resolved - allowing a td to be referenced by a header to be in the HTMl5 spec.

At yesterdays HTML WG issue tracking telecon [1], the issue of headers
not being allowed to reference a td (in the current version of spec)
was discussed.

It was decided by the Chair (Chris Wilson) after discussion and
consideration of the pros and cons that the current spec should be
changed to allow headers to reference a td element.

 Chris "took action item assigned to josh and will figure out how to
ensure edit gets made in timely fashion" [1]

The action:
"rewrite spec to reinstate id/headers AND their functionality by
specifically stating that headers are allowed to reference a td.
Reword the current definition of the headers attribute so that each of
the space separated tokens must have the value of the ID value of a th
or td element." [2]

This means that the HTML5 spec will contain a method to mark up
complex and irregular data tables accessibly that is well supported by
current AT's.

It is also a positive sign that the W3C process is working within the HTML WG.


[1] http://www.w3.org/2008/08/28-html-wg-minutes.html
[2] http://www.w3.org/html/wg/tracker/actions/72
-- 
with regards

Steve Faulkner
Technical Director - TPG Europe
Director - Web Accessibility Tools Consortium

www.paciellogroup.com | www.wat-c.org
Web Accessibility Toolbar -
http://www.paciellogroup.com/resources/wat-ie-about.html

Received on Friday, 29 August 2008 10:33:52 UTC