Re: [docbook] Re: Tables, braille and other stuff

[Tobias Reif <tobiasreif@pinkjuice.com>]

Jeff Beal wrote:


> Pardon my ignorance for a moment,


No problem, but I provided the URL earlier.

> but do accessibility guidelines suggest
> that we make our information less accessible


No. Do you really think any sensible accessibility guideline would 
suggest to make anything *less* accessible?

> for the "seeing" population in
> order to make it more accessible for the "non-seeing" population?


W3C WCAG and hopefully all other accessibility guidelines are not 
written just for the blind. The are written for everyone, in order to 
make the web more accessible for everyone using any UA.

> Or (as I
> understand it) do they suggest methods and standards for adding information
> to our existing data for alternate presentation?


Tables should be used appropriately, for tabular data, and they should 
be made accessible. The techniques described make tables more accessible 
for surfers with any kind of sensory profile (there aren't just blind 
and sighted users).

Especially if the table does not make sense when linearized 
automatically, then providing an alternative version (eg linearized) 
should be considered.

WCAG
http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#gl-table-markup

"Guideline 5.  Create tables that transform gracefully.

Ensure that tables have necessary markup to be transformed by accessible 
browsers and other user agents.

Tables should be used to mark up truly tabular information ("data 
tables"). Content developers should avoid using them to lay out pages 
("layout tables"). Tables for any use also present special problems to 
users of screen readers (refer to checkpoint 10.3)."

Please read the relevant WCAG (version 2 is coming).

Tobi

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