At 3/6/2007 11:04 PM, Thierry Koblentz wrote:
For me if it fits in a two column table then it's not tabular data.
Yikes-a-roonie! That is the most refreshingly bizarre assertion I've
heard all day. And self-contradictory: if it "fits in a table" then
it is by definition "tabular," number of columns aside. Your
three-column minimum certainly doesn't apply to data tables in
general out there in the real world; why impose such a restriction in
HTML? I've just re-read what the HTML 4.1 spec has to say about
table markup and structure, and nowhere did I see any restriction on
the number of columns a table may have.
I have a
need for a table when it is the only tool that would make sense of the data.
Usually that's the way I think about it, if it makes sense only in a table
then it's tabular data.
If you apply that same rigorousness to all of HTML's tags you're
going to tie yourself up in knots. You could as easily say that you
shouldn't use a definition list unless it's the only structure that
will hold the data. A 2xN dataset doesn't *require* a definition
list; to be consistent shouldn't you assert that you shouldn't use a
DL unless your data requires that structure? With a table's
flexibility in the number of rows and columns and a DL's flexibility
in the number of DTs and DDs, how can you find the kind of
inflexibility you're seeking? If someone marks up a two-column
dataset as H3-P pairs I don't think they're marking it up
incorrectly, just differently, with some arguable advantages and
disadvantages depending on their circumstances.
I don't think the other way around, I don't leave
room for any other consideration. So in short, if it *also* makes sense in a
DL or an UL or anything else (without styling), then it is not tabular data.
Because only tables can display tabular data.
You're expecting the markup language to be excessively
rigorous. HTML has latitude, gives us choices, leaves us room to be
creative and inventive and to come up with multiple solutions to
problems. If you paint yourself into tight corners then your own
innovations will become brittle and uninspired.
Hang loose, man.
Paul
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