HTML 4.01 Test Suite - Assertions

(must) TABLE summary = text [CS] This attribute provides a summary of the table's purpose and structure for user agents rendering to non-visual media such as speech and Braille.

(must) TABLE width = length [CN] This attribute specifies the desired width of the entire table and is intended for visual user agents. When the value is a percentage value, the value is relative to the user agent's available horizontal space. In the absence of any width specification, table width is determined by the user agent.

(must) The directionality of a table is either the inherited directionality (the default is left-to-right) or that specified by the dir attribute (defined in chapter 8) for the TABLE element.

(must) When a user agent allots extra cells to a row, extra row cells are added to the right of the table for left-to-right tables and to the left side for right-to-left tables.

(must) TABLE is the only element on which the dir attribute reverses the visual order of the columns. A single table row (TR) or a group of columns (COLGROUP) cannot be independently reversed.

(must) When set for the TABLE element, the dir attribute also affects the direction of text within table cells (since the dir attribute is inherited by block-level elements).

(must) The direction of text in individual cells can be changed by setting the dir attribute in an element that defines the cell.

(must) COLGROUP span = number [CN] This attribute, which must be an integer > 0, specifies the number of columns in a column group. Values mean the following: In the absence of a span attribute, each COLGROUP defines a column group containing one column. If the span attribute is set to N > 0, the current COLGROUP element defines a column group containing N columns.

(must) User agents must ignore the span attribute of the COLGROUP element if the COLGROUP element contains one or more COL elements.

(must) width = multi-length [CN] This attribute specifies a default width for each column in the current column group. In addition to the standard pixel, percentage, and relative values, this attribute allows the special form "0*" (zero asterisk) which means that the width of the each column in the group should be the minimum width necessary to hold the column's contents. This implies that a column's entire contents must be known before its width may be correctly computed. Authors should be aware that specifying "0*" will prevent visual user agents from rendering a table incrementally.

(must) The width attribute of the COLGROUP elements is overridden for any column in the column group whose width is specified via a COL element.

(must) The COLGROUP element creates an explicit column group. The number of columns in the column group may be specified in two, mutually exclusive ways: 1. The element's span attribute (default value 1) specifies the number of columns in the group. 2. Each COL element in the COLGROUP represents one or more columns in the group.

(must) COL span = number [CN] This attribute, whose value must be an integer > 0, specifies the number of columns "spanned" by the COL element; the COL element shares its attributes with all the columns it spans. The default value for this attribute is 1 (i.e., the COL element refers to a single column). If the span attribute is set to N > 1, the current COL element shares its attributes with the next N-1 columns.

(must) COL width = multi-length [CN] This attribute specifies a default width for each column spanned by the current COL element. It has the same meaning as the width attribute for the COLGROUP element and overrides it.

(must) The COL element allows authors to group together attribute specifications for table columns. The COL does not group columns together structurally -- that is the role of the COLGROUP element. COL elements are empty and serve only as a support for attributes. They may appear inside or outside an explicit column group (i.e., COLGROUP element).

(must) The width attribute for COL refers to the width of each column in the element's span.

(must) There are two ways to determine the number of columns in a table (in order of precedence): 1. If the TABLE element contains any COLGROUP or COL elements, user agents should calculate the number of columns by summing the following: For each COL element, take the value of its span attribute (default value 1). For each COLGROUP element containing at least one COL element, ignore the span attribute for the COLGROUP element. For each COL element, perform the calculation of step 1. For each empty COLGROUP element, take the value of its span attribute (default value 1). 2. Otherwise, if the TABLE element contains no COLGROUP or COL elements, user agents should base the number of columns on what is required by the rows. The number of columns is equal to the number of columns required by the row with the most columns, including cells that span multiple columns. For any row that has fewer than this number of columns, the end of that row should be padded with empty cells. The "end" of a row depends on the table directionality.

(must) The TR elements [sic] acts as a container for a row of table cells.

(must) TH and TD: headers = idrefs [CS] This attribute specifies the list of header cells that provide header information for the current data cell. The value of this attribute is a space-separated list of cell names; those cells must be named by setting their id attribute. Authors generally use the headers attribute to help non-visual user agents render header information about data cells (e.g., header information is spoken prior to the cell data), but the attribute may also be used in conjunction with style sheets. See also the scope attribute.

(must) TH and TD: scope = scope-name [CI] This attribute specifies the set of data cells for which the current header cell provides header information. This attribute may be used in place of the headers attribute, particularly for simple tables. When specified, this attribute must have one of the following values: row: The current cell provides header information for the rest of the row that contains it (see also the section on table directionality). col: The current cell provides header information for the rest of the column that contains it. rowgroup: The header cell provides header information for the rest of the row group that contains it. colgroup: The header cell provides header information for the rest of the column group that contains it.

(must) TH and TD: abbr = text [CS] This attribute should be used to provide an abbreviated form of the cell's content, and may be rendered by user agents when appropriate in place of the cell's content. Abbreviated names should be short since user agents may render them repeatedly. For instance, speech synthesizers may render the abbreviated headers relating to a particular cell before rendering that cell's content.

(must) TH and TD: axis = cdata [CI] This attribute may be used to place a cell into conceptual categories that can be considered to form axes in an n-dimensional space. User agents may give users access to these categories (e.g., the user may query the user agent for all cells that belong to certain categories, the user agent may present a table in the form of a table of contents, etc.). Please consult the section on categorizing cells for more information. The value of this attribute is a comma-separated list of category names.

(must) TH and TD: rowspan = number [CN] This attribute specifies the number of rows spanned by the current cell. The default value of this attribute is one ("1"). The value zero ("0") means that the cell spans all rows from the current row to the last row of the table section (THEAD, TBODY, or TFOOT) in which the cell is defined.

(must) TH and TD: colspan = number [CN] This attribute specifies the number of columns spanned by the current cell. The default value of this attribute is one ("1"). The value zero ("0") means that the cell spans all columns from the current column to the last column of the column group (COLGROUP) in which the cell is defined.

(must) User agents have two pieces of header information available: the contents of the TH element and the value of the abbr attribute. User agents must render either the contents of the cell or the value of the abbr attribute.

(must) Cells may be empty (i.e. contain no data.)

(must) TABLE frame = void|above|below|hsides|lhs|rhs|vsides|box|border [CI] This attribute specifies which sides of the frame surrounding a table will be visible. Possible values: void: No sides. This is the default value. above: The top side only. below: The bottom side only. hsides: The top and bottom sides only. vsides: The right and left sides only. lhs: The left-hand side only. rhs: The right-hand side only. box: All four sides. border: All four sides.

(must) TABLE rules = none|groups|rows|cols|all [CI] This attribute specifies which rules will appear between cells within a table. The rendering of rules is user agent dependent. Possible values: none: No rules. This is the default value. groups: Rules will appear between row groups (see THEAD, TFOOT, and TBODY) and column groups (see COLGROUP and COL) only. rows: Rules will appear between rows only. cols: Rules will appear between columns only. all: Rules will appear between all rows and columns.

(must) TABLE border = pixels [CN] This attributes specifies the width (in pixels only) of the frame around a table (see the Note below for more information about this attribute).

(must) align = left|center|right|justify|char [CI] This attribute specifies the alignment of data and the justification of text in a cell. Possible values: left: Left-flush data/Left-justify text. This is the default value for table data. center: Center data/Center-justify text. This is the default value for table headers. right: Right-flush data/Right-justify text. justify: Double-justify text. char: Align text around a specific character. If a user agent doesn't support character alignment, behavior in the presence of this value is unspecified.

(must) valign = top|middle|bottom|baseline [CI] This attribute specifies the vertical position of data within a cell. Possible values: top: Cell data is flush with the top of the cell. middle: Cell data is centered vertically within the cell. This is the default value. bottom: Cell data is flush with the bottom of the cell. baseline: All cells in the same row as a cell whose valign attribute has this value should have their textual data positioned so that the first text line occurs on a baseline common to all cells in the row. This constraint does not apply to subsequent text lines in these cells.

(must) char = character [CN] This attribute specifies a single character within a text fragment to act as an axis for alignment. The default value for this attribute is the decimal point character for the current language as set by the lang attribute (e.g., the period (".") in English and the comma (",") in French). User agents are not required to support this attribute. [NOTE: I assume they mean the lang attribute is not required.]

(must) charoff = length [CN] When present, this attribute specifies the offset to the first occurrence of the alignment character on each line. If a line doesn't include the alignment character, it should be horizontally shifted to end at the alignment position. When charoff is used to set the offset of an alignment character, the direction of offset is determined by the current text direction (set by the dir attribute). In left-to-right texts (the default), offset is from the left margin. In right-to-left texts, offset is from the right margin. User agents are not required to support this attribute. [NOTE: I assume they mean the dir attribute is not required.]

(must) The order of precedence (from highest to lowest) for the attributes align, char, and charoff is the following: 1. An alignment attribute set on an element within a cell's data (e.g., P). 2. An alignment attribute set on a cell (TH and TD). 3. An alignment attribute set on a column grouping element (COL and COLGROUP). When a cell is part of a multi-column span, the alignment property is inherited from the cell definition at the beginning of the span. 4. An alignment attribute set on a row or row grouping element (TR, THEAD, TFOOT, and TBODY). When a cell is part of a multi-row span, the alignment property is inherited from the cell definition at the beginning of the span. 5. An alignment attribute set on the table (TABLE). 6. The default alignment value.

(must) The order of precedence (from highest to lowest) for the attribute valign (as well as the other inherited attributes lang, dir, and style) is the following:1. An attribute set on an element within a cell's data (e.g., P). 2. An attribute set on a cell (TH and TD). 3. An attribute set on a row or row grouping element (TR, THEAD, TFOOT, and TBODY). When a cell is part of a multi-row span, the attribute value is inherited from the cell definition at the beginning of the span. 4. An attribute set on a column grouping element (COL and COLGROUP). When a cell is part of a multi-column span, the attribute value is inherited from the cell definition at the beginning of the span. 5. An attribute set on the table (TABLE). 6. The default attribute value.

(must) When rendering cells, horizontal alignment is determined by columns in preference to rows, while for vertical alignment, rows are given preference over columns.

(must) cellspacing = length [CN] This attribute specifies how much space the user agent should leave between the left side of the table and the left-hand side of the leftmost column, the top of the table and the top side of the topmost row, and so on for the right and bottom of the table. The attribute also specifies the amount of space to leave between cells.

(must) cellpadding = length [CN] This attribute specifies the amount of space between the border of the cell and its contents. If the value of this attribute is a pixel length, all four margins should be this distance from the contents. If the value of the attribute is a percentage length, the top and bottom margins should be equally separated from the content based on a percentage of the available vertical space, and the left and right margins should be equally separated from the content based on a percentage of the available horizontal space.