[whatwg] several messages about tables and related subjects

[Ian Hickson]

On Mon, 24 Mar 2008, Tab Atkins Jr. wrote:
>
>  >> TH and TD
> >> * abbr (I think that's supported by screen readers, but need to verify)
> >
> >I don't really see that these attributes actually help anyone.
> 
> I don't have a screen reader to verify, but afaik abbr= is used to provide a
> shortened form of the header when it is spoken aloud repeatedly.  Leaving it
> out won't *hurt* anything, but the annoyance of hearing a large bit of
> header repeated over and over again when the table is complex enough to
> *need* a regular reminder would be enough, I think, for abbr= to be
> considered to help people.
> 
> I use abbr= to this effect in my own tables.

I understand the intent, but wouldn't it be better for the user agent to 
automatically abbreviate the table headers, for example by only saying the 
first few syllables of the first bit of unique text in the relevant 
headers once it has been said several times?

-- 
Ian Hickson               U+1047E                )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
http://ln.hixie.ch/       U+263A                /,   _.. \   _\  ;`._ ,.
Things that are impossible just take longer.   `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'