Part of Item: Applicability
Comment Type: GE
Comment (including rationale for proposed change):
There needs to be a technique on the use of layout tables.
Proposed Change:
Add a technique describing the use of layout tables. Layout tables are OK as long as they are not nested too deep (more than 4 levels). They should not have too many rows or colums (not more than 4 X 4).
The working group has previously considered creating a technique on using layout tables. We decided not to, however, because we don't want to encourage their use. Even though layout tables are supported by assistive technologies and create no accessibility problems on legacy sites, we do not want to encourage their use on new or modified sites. One issue with layout tables, however, is the failure to make sense when linearized which is addressed by technique F49. To clarify this, we have changed the title of F49 to "Failure of SC 1.3.3 due to using an HTML layout table that does not make sense when linearized".