28 February 2007

Web pages which do not use tables could offer greater accessibility than others, according to one expert.

Although tables were once considered to be desirable for site design, the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) standards "dictate the use of tableless design", claims Tim Warren, writing on DevStart's HTMLPrimer news source.

Tableless pages use cascading style sheets (CSS) to arrange text and detail, which could also have a positive impact on a site's search engine performance, notes the expert.

"Proponents of tableless formats assert that tables do not adhere to web standards and web accessibility," writes Mr Warren. "Website accessibility for people with special needs is done more easily with the proper implementation of content into XHTML [Extensible HyperText Markup Language] documents."

Additionally, the analyst states that the original purpose of CSS was to improve accessibility when the W3C originally introduced the advancement.

In December 2006, the W3C celebrated ten years since the introduction of CSS, hailing the development as a revolutionary force in the history of web accessibility.

© Adfero Ltd

Keep up to date with industry and Nomensa news by signing up to Nomensa newsletters.