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Re: Table SUMMARY Tag

for

From: Joshue O Connor
Date: Mar 3, 2011 2:36AM

On 02/03/2011 18:09, Jukka K. Korpela wrote:
> On the other hand, the HTML5 drafts designate the SUMMARY attribute as
> obsolete and declare that authors must not use it. Whatever we think of
> HTML5, it seems to be the way the world is going. I guess the reason for
> making SUMMARY as obsolete is twofold: first, it has fairly limited support
> and usage; second, it is better replaced by explanations that every user can
> make use of.

FWIW For the first point, @Summary is very well supported in most
browsers, it is recognised by most screen reading AT and announced as
soon as the table is given focus.

For the second, while on paper this looks like a good idea, removing
@summary from HTML 5 because it couldn't be used by _everybody_ became a
Shibboleth that lost all meaning. @summary content could be exposed to
sighted users if browsers were wired to do so.

The fact is (IMO of course), that what @summary did/does for blind users
it actually does very well. The fact that it didn't do it for _all_
users, was its death knell. Which to me, is a pity. While philosophies
like Universal Design are great, I would rather see elements and
attributes that support some user groups very well, than elements and
attributes that serve all users poorly.

The two choices may not be even be mutually exclusive but c'est la guerre.

Cheers

Josh


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