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Re: complex layout tables

for

From: Steve Faulkner
Date: Jan 29, 2014 1:26PM

On 29 January 2014 20:00, Olaf Drümmer < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> I actually do dispute that. HTML 5 even tells you how to do layout tables:


patrick is right, tables are for data, that is the semantics they convey,
when the normative advice in the spec is ignored one repair technique is to
remove the semantics with role=presentation.
HTML5 says<http://www.w3.org/html/wg/drafts/html/master/tabular-data.html#the-table-element>;
:

"Tables should not be used as layout aids. Historically, many Web authors
have tables in HTML as a way to control their page layout making it
difficult to extract tabular data from such documents. In particular, users
of accessibility tools, like screen readers, are likely to find it very
difficult to navigate pages with tables used for layout. If a table is to
be used for layout it must be marked with the attribute role="presentation"
for a user agent to properly represent the table to an assistive technology
and to properly convey the intent of the author to tools that wish to
extract tabular data from the document."

note the SHOULD NOT in the first sentence is a normative statement (as is
the MUST in the third sentence). In other words use of tables for layout is
NOT RECOMMENDED, but the spec acknowledges that tables are misused and
provides advice on a repair mechanism. This advice could probably do with
strengthening and expanding.



--

Regards

SteveF
HTML 5.1 <http://www.w3.org/html/wg/drafts/html/master/>;