Accessibility and output HTML tables

[Andy Hatton <andy.hatton@oracle.com>]

Hi

I'm using DocBook 4.5, and 1.78.1 release of the XSL stylesheets, and I 
need to output tables in (X)HTML so that they are accessible.

I've seen from various posts on this list that the CALS table model in 
DocBook 4.5 does not really provide sufficient markup for me to achieve 
this. However the HTML table model does provide everything I need.

For simple tables, the scope attribute (scope="col", scope="row") on 
<td> and <td> is sufficient to meet my requirements.

(I have been able to output this markup for CALS tables thanks to other 
posts on this list)

For complex tables, the headers attribute on <td> and <th>, containing a 
list of IDs of the header cells is sufficient.

However, in my tests it seems that only the headers attribute is passed 
to the output. The id and scope attributes are not.

In xhtml/htmltbl.xsl around line 61 there is template that copies 
specific selection of table attributes to the output.

Adding id and scope to that list enables me to generate the required 
markup in the output.

Is anyone aware of any good reason *not* to do this?

Just trying to understand the logic of the default processing outputting 
the headers attribute without the corresponding required id attributes.

Thanks

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Andy Hatton