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I don't think they do, I believe it's undifferentiated. I'm not very knowledgeable in this area though. ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) is a new W3C specification for making your stuff accessible via a standard set of DOM properties. It allows you to add things like a "role" attribute to different HTML elements to tell a reader how it should interpret something (like "here's a navigation menu!"). Maybe not that relevant to what you're trying to do, but something to keep an eye on for accessibility. On Mon, Jun 10, 2013 at 4:41 PM, Michele R Combs <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Hi Joyce –**** > > ** ** > > Thanks – I will definitely check it out. When the output is interpreted > by a screen reader, does it report the class attribute or in some other way > reflect the nesting of the component levels? Or does it just treat that > third column as undifferentiated, i.e. all at the same “level”?**** > > ** ** > > Michele**** > > ** ** > > *From:* Encoded Archival Description List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] *On > Behalf Of *Joyce Chapman > *Sent:* Monday, June 10, 2013 3:03 PM > *To:* [log in to unmask] > *Subject:* Re: finding aid HTML and accessibility**** > > ** ** > > Hi Michelle,**** > > ** ** > > In 2009 I wrote a stylesheet like your first solution, partially in the > hope that people would use it to alleviate this problem -- it's a good > solution to getting rid of using the table to force indentation. It's part > of the EADRT hosted stylesheets, called "dsc-3-column-table: three column > table for DSC section" ( > http://saa-ead-roundtable.github.io/ead-stylesheets/). The stylesheet > uses the first two columns to output container values (box 1, folder 1), > and all descriptive info for nested components is output together in the > third column. The layout of nested component levels is controlled through > classes provided in an accompanying CSS stylesheet. It assumes that your > institution uses two columns for container values, but you could easily > modify it to be a two-column layout for single containers. The CSS does not > include any styling other than setting up the classes that will control the > display (such as indentation) for the different component levels' table > cells.**** > > ** ** > > Joyce**** > > ** ** > > On Mon, Jun 10, 2013 at 12:51 PM, Michele R Combs <[log in to unmask]> > wrote:**** > > Hello, collective wisdom -- > > I'm wondering what approaches people have taken to encoding finding aids > for browser display in a manner that is useful to folks who access web > pages through non-visual means (e.g., a screen reader). I know that HTML > tables (a) aren't supposed to be used for layout and (b) can pose problems > for people using alternate means to "read" web pages, and the hierarchical > nature of finding aid descriptions poses a sort of extra level of problem. > > Given this sort of data: > > Box Folder Contents > Memorabilia > 1 1 Awards > 1 2 Citations > Photographs > 2 1 Family > 2 2 Friends > 2 3 Travel > 2 4 Scrapbooks > > how does one create HTML that is both good HTML and non-visually > accessible/meaningful? > > Here are the approaches I've thought of so far: > > FIRST: One could encode the entire box/folder listing as a simple > 3-column table, with the columns being "box" "folder" and "contents." I > could then assign a @class attribute to each <td> (e.g., class="level1" > class="level2") and use CSS to indent "Awards" "Citations" "Friends" etc. > to the appropriate level for the visual folks. Technically this is > probably the most correct in terms of HTML, since the data does consist > only of three types: box, folder, and contents. But would the class > attribute be any use to the non-visual folks? Is it recognized by screen > readers, and would it be enough to convey the hierarchical information in a > useful manner? > > SECOND: One could do it as a multi-column table, putting the different > levels into different columns (in the example above I'd need five columns: > box, folder, c01, c02, c03) and spanning as necessary. That (sort of) > preserves the hierarchical nature of the information but it means there > will be a bunch of extra columns, and I feel like this is using the table > more for layout purposes than for actual tabular data. Plus web-readers > don't always do well with spanned columns - might just be a big mess -- and > big tables can be slow to load in general. > > THIRD: One could use separate tables for each set/subset of boxes/folders, > and include the full hierarchy as the table caption, e.g.: > > <p>Memorabilia</p> > <table><caption>Memorabilia</caption>[box/folder list]</table> > > <p>Photographs</p> > <table><caption>Memorabilia - Photographs</caption>[box/folder > list]</table> > > But that poses problems when the list drops down to a lower level briefly > and then comes back up (what do I do with "Scrapbooks" in his scenario, > since the "Memorabilia" table is already closed above? A separate table > captioned "Memorabilia - continued"?) > > FOURTH: And of course the final option would be to not use tables at all > and instead use different heading levels (<h1> <h2> etc.) to indicate > subordinate levels of description, same as in a page of regular text that > has topics and sub-topics. > > Are there other approaches I've left out? Does anyone have experience > and/or thoughts on this? > > Michele > +++++++++++++++ > Michele Combs > Lead Archivist > Special Collections Research Center > Syracuse University > 315-443-2081 > [log in to unmask] > scrc.syr.edu > library-blog.syr.edu/scrc**** > > > > **** > > ** ** > > -- **** > > Joyce Chapman**** > > Communications and Data Analysis Consultant**** > > State Library of North Carolina**** > > 4640 Mail Service Center**** > > Raleigh, NC 27699-4640**** > > Phone: 919-807-7421 | Fax: 919-733-8748**** > > [log in to unmask]<https://mail.nc.gov/owa/redir.aspx?C=6e03774f01464579a52f298db758e3c0&URL=mailto%3ajeffrey.hamilton%40ncdcr.gov> > **** > -- Joyce Chapman Communications and Data Analysis Consultant State Library of North Carolina 4640 Mail Service Center Raleigh, NC 27699-4640 Phone: 919-807-7421 | Fax: 919-733-8748 [log in to unmask]<https://mail.nc.gov/owa/redir.aspx?C=6e03774f01464579a52f298db758e3c0&URL=mailto%3ajeffrey.hamilton%40ncdcr.gov>