[thelist] Accessibility and Proper Tabular Data Markup or Overkill?

Jono ox4dboy at comcast.net
Thu Jan 20 16:03:41 CST 2005


Marking up tables to be as accessible as possible is always a good 
idea, but in very simple tables, can it be overkill?   For example, a 
small table such as the one below:

<table summary="This table contains contact information for blah blah 
bah">
	<tr>
		<th id="name" align="right"><b>Name</b></th>
		<td headers="name" >Mr. So Andso</td>
	</tr>
	<tr>
		<th id="office" align="right"><b>Office</b></th>
		<td headers="office">Office of Table markup</td>
	</tr>
	<tr>
		<th id="phone" align="right"><b>Phone</b></th>
		<td headers="phone">555-555-5785</td>
	</tr>
	<tr>
		<th id="email" align="right"><b>Email</b></th>
		<td headers="email"><a 
href="mailto:name at domain.com">name at domain.com</a></td>
	</tr>
</table>

Since tabular data is read,  in rows - from left to right by default, 
and since there are only two columns of data, is the above example 
correct, overkill, or just plain wrong?  I'm trying to get the hang of 
accessible tables, so any quick help or tips is appreciated.

Thanks,
Jono



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