=?iso-8859-1?Q?RE:_Accessible_tables?=

> The Access Board, DoT, DoJ and Treasury all require
> reqiure a complete summary attribute for all tables
> (layout or not) as well as "blank" in all empty cells
> and "spacer" in all place holding gifs.

Hopefully this is a misunderstanding. If it is true, something has gone 
very, very astray in the implementation of 508.

Use of the summary attribute is not referenced anywhere in the 508 
Standards. In the Federal IT Accessibility Initiative's "508 Universe" 
(www.section508.gov/508/) course called "Building Accessible Web Sites", 
using the summary attribute is mentioned only in a section identified 
as "additional design techniques not required under the 508 standards". The 
recommendation to "Provide summaries for tables" is W3C WCAG Checkpoint 
5.5, which is a priority 3 (least important) checkpoint at that. 
Additionally, all of the checkpoints in W3C Guideline 5 focus on "truly 
tabular information (data tables)", not "layout tables" (which W3C 
discourages).

There is room for discussion on what is the most beneficial use of summary 
on layout tables. A similar discussion on the W3C WAI Interest Group list 
led to no clear consensus. (There were a number of suggestions that 
summary="" (null) should be recommended, which were countered by the point 
that the W3C shouldn't be making recommendations for the use of summary on 
layout tables if they were discouraging the use of layout tables at all.) 
My experience is definitely in line with Brian Walker's -- that summaries 
on layout tables are simply extra verbiage for screen reader users to wade 
through and should not be used in most cases.

Regarding alt text on spacer images, the same 508 training course 
specifically says "For 'non-essential' images - that is, those that are 
unrelated to page content (e.g., spacer GIFs) - supply an empty alt 
attribute". The use of the word "spacer" as a text equivalent for an 
invisible place holding image would be a sad misinterpretation of the 
intent of the standards.

I'm sure we could get Doug Wakefield from the Access Board to comment on 
these issues if anyone honestly feels that the Feds are actually enforcing, 
or even encouraging, these kinds of requirements.

Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-aware-techniques(at)hwg.org [mailto:owner-aware-
techniques(at)hwg.org] On Behalf Of Barry Johnson
Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2002 6:56 PM
To: brian walker; aware-techniques(at)hwg.org
Subject: RE: Accessible tables

Thanks for your input Brian.
However, as a developer for the US Federal Govt, most
of the agencys I deal with have very strict guidelines
and a review panel for every page that goes up. The
Access Board, DoT, DoJ and Treasury all require
reqiure a complete summary attribute for all tables
(layout or not) as well as "blank" in all empty cells
and "spacer" in all place holding gifs.
I use IBM Hompage and JAWS to double check the flow of
the pages, but they still have to go to a review
committee, each of whom rely on assistive technologies
to do thier jobs.
OK, when I do non-Gov sites I tend to follow your
model but they do not have to be 508...

Barry

--- brian walker <bwalker5(at)tampabay.rr.com> wrote:
> As a screen reader user, I personally do not want
> layout tables identified
> as such. It is just extra verbiage.
> 
> The table specific commands available through my
> screen reader are
> intentionally not functional in tables with only one
> row. This works very
> well.
> 
> I do not use summary attributes in the tables I
> create unless they are:
> 
> 1. data tables
> 2. complex enough that a summary truly adds value,
> i.e. makes the table
> easier to understand.
> 
> I may be blind, but I do not think it is that
> difficult to figure out.
> 
> However, I recognize that mileage may vary for
> others.
> 
> Brian

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