[whatwg] several messages about tables and related subjects

[Paweł Stradomski]

W liście Ian Hickson z dnia czwartek 21 sierpnia 2008:
> > 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?

I guess it's to difficult to implement such guessing right.

<thead>
<tr>
	<th abbr="Europe">Amount sold in Europe</th>
	<th abbr="Asia">Amount sold in Asia</th>
	<th abbr="North America">Amount sold in North America</th>
..
</tr>
</thead>

Another example (translated into English and simplified from real life Polish 
text):

<h1>Camp details</h1>
<thead>
<tr>
	<th></th>
	<th abbr="young scouts">Camp for young scouts (12-15 years old)</th>
	<th abbr="scouts leaders">Training camp for scout leaders (16-18 years 
old)</th>
..
</tr>
<tbody>
<tr>
	<th>Price</th>
	<td>xx</td>
	<td>yy</td>
</tr>
<tr>
	<th>Location details</th>
	<td>xx</td>
	<td>yy</td>
</tr>
...
</tbody>
</thead>


Please don't remove this attribute, it doesn't hurt people who don't care 
about using it, but might make it more difficult for disabled people. Hearing 
same sentence over and over can kill usability.


-- 
Paweł Stradomski