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Re: Tables for layout

for

From: Sharon Daniels
Date: Mar 20, 2002 6:08AM

So if you are laying out a form, it is considered a data table?

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jukka Korpela" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
To: < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Sent: Wednesday, March 20, 2002 7:14 AM
Subject: RE: Tables for layout


> Sharon Daniels wrote:
>
> > If you are using a table for layout, are you supposed to have
> > a table header at all?
>
> No. As you mentioned, the recommendation tells us _not_ to use e.g. <th>
at
> all when the table is for layout only.
>
> > Say you just had one table that had 3 cells. One for email
> > address, one for name, and one for a submit button. Isn't it
> > appropriate to not have a table header on that kind of table?
>
> If the only purpose of a table is layout, then the primary recommendation
is
> to use style sheets instead; this isn't _yet_ always a realistic policy.
The
> secondary recommendation is that layout tables should not contain markup
> like <th>. The point is that such a table cannot logically contain
headers.
> On the practical side, <th> markup could confuse software intended to make
> data tables accessible to different groups of users or in different
> situations. We don't want a program read a layout table as if it were
> structural, just because an author used <th> for bolding and centering.
>
> But is your table purely for layout? It seems to group logically related
> elements together. On the other hand, it doesn't sound like a complete
> table. Shouldn't it rather be something like the following (inside a
<form>
> element of course):
>
> <table>
> <tr><th>Name:</th> <td><input type="name"></td> </tr>
> <tr><th>E-mail address:</th> <td><input type="email"></td> </tr>
> <tr><td rowspan="2"><input type="submit"></td> </tr>
> </table>
>
> In this case, the <th> elements really act as sort-of headers for their
> rows. And it really isn't a "layout table", but a data table: it is
> logically a matrix. In fact, a logically oriented author would use <th>
_in
> spite of_ its common visual presentation! (He probably intends to say
> something like th { text-align:left; } in his style sheet in an attempt to
> make the presentation better.)
>
> There's of course lot of markup that could, and perhaps should, be added.
> Maybe
> <table summary="The first column contains field names. The second
> column contains the input fields themselves. The last row
> contains a submit button only."
>
> Or you might consider using an approach that does not use a table. It is
not
> always _necessary_ to use table markup even if you have some data that can
> be regarded as tabular. But it's surely _possible_ and one logical
> alternative quite often inside forms. Some more complicated examples:
> http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/forms/tables.html
>
> --
> Jukka Korpela
> TIEKE Tietoyhteiskunnan kehitt