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Re: The affect of "scope" attributes in <th> tags

for

From: Simius Puer
Date: Aug 26, 2010 9:39AM

As far as I am aware any cell should only be linked to (a max of) one row
and one col "scope" according to the W3C spec. It is not overly clear, but
as I understand it as soon as you go from a "simple" to a "complex" table
that is where IDs and Headers kick in.

Support for IDs and Headers in AT is reasonable, but where possible you
should try to keep your tables simple as possible if accessibility is
vital...even though this technique makes complex tables "accessible" they
are not easy to use. If you can split the table content up (sometimes you
simply can't as the layout needs to be preserved) or simplify the headers it
is a better option (in terms of accessibility).

e.g. your first row contains "Major Category", of which no doubt you have
many...could each one form a new table and the category can form part of the
table <caption>.

There are lots of different methods out there, but the simpler you keep it
the better from an accessibility standpoint...the end result is usually
tables that everyone finds easier to read too. Sometimes though you have to
bite the bullet and go with IDs and Headers.