Table Summary Attribute
Printed From: Web Wiz Forums
Category: General Discussion
Forum Name: Web Design Discussion
Forum Description: Discussion on web design and development subjects.
URL: https://forums.webwiz.net/forum_posts.asp?TID=782
Printed Date: 28 March 2026 at 5:52am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.08 - https://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Table Summary Attribute
Posted By: karp13
Subject: Table Summary Attribute
Date Posted: 06 March 2003 at 3:06pm
|
Any one know what the benefit or downfall is to using the Summary attribute for a table is? Ex. <table summary="blah blah"> Thanks |
Replies:
Posted By: michael
Date Posted: 06 March 2003 at 4:12pm
| I have never used it and never missed it so I would assume it is just for informational purposes. |
Posted By: MKrivanek
Date Posted: 06 March 2003 at 5:05pm
|
"This attribute provides a summary of the table's purpose and structure for user agents rendering to non-visual media such as speech and Braille." - http://www.w3.org/ - http://www.w3.org/ |
Posted By: michael
Date Posted: 06 March 2003 at 9:11pm
| hm, that is interesting...nice to know. |
Posted By: MKrivanek
Date Posted: 06 March 2003 at 10:21pm
|
I wonder what the percentage of sites is that actually use that attribute. |
?Posted By: michael
Date Posted: 06 March 2003 at 11:18pm
| Well one things is that IMHO websites should be designed to be just as accessible for physically and mentally challenged people so I think it is a good idea to do things like that. See, this is one of the disadvanteage of using flash or java buttons, they are hard to follow for brille readers etc.... |
Posted By: KCWebMonkey
Date Posted: 06 March 2003 at 11:51pm
|
a Table summary attribute? Isn't plain text and alt tags good enough? How would they see this? wouldn't it just confuse the reader? |
Posted By: MKrivanek
Date Posted: 07 March 2003 at 8:44am
| I think a summary attribute would be applicable when you have a table filled with data. It would provide a description of what the table and it's data are about. I'm not sure but I think ALT tags are normally used with image tags. |
Posted By: michael
Date Posted: 07 March 2003 at 9:43am
| Krivanek is right, I read up a little on that. There are machines, that would look for that and basically use speech to tell the user what data is in there. Of course this is nothing for formatting tables like on this site, the machine would get a short but for normal sites that just contain basic information it could be used. |