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Contents of Summary Attribute

Summary Attribute

Copyright Karen McCall, Karlen Communications

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• The W3C indicates that the summary attribute is helpful in describing complex table structure to people using adaptive technology such as a screen reader or Text-to-Speech software.
• There is currently a discussion on the WebAIM list about the need for the summary attribute since the information available in it is ONLY available to those using audio output adaptive technology.
• The caption attribute is favoured instead.
• Note that the positioning of the <Caption> attribute has been deprecated. So some browsers might support it while others would not.
• Best practice not to use deprecated elements or attributes. For example <bold> has been deprecated in favour of <em> or <strong>.