This table would be displayed as follows: 

Winter 

Summer 

Morning Afternoon Morning Afternoon

Wilma 9 11 

12 6 

7 11 

12 3 

Fred 10 11  12 6 

9 11 

12 5 

Is the summary attribute an option? 

Although highly recommended by some webpage designers as a way of summarizing the 

contents of a table, the "summary" attribute of the TABLE tag is not sufficiently supported by 

major assistive technology manufacturers to warrant recommendation. Therefore, web 

developers who are interested in summarizing their tables should consider placing their 

descriptions either adjacent to their tables or in the body of the table, using such tags as the 

CAPTION tag. In no event should web developers use summarizing tables as an alternative to 

making the contents of their tables compliant as described above. 

(i) Frames shall be titled with text that facilitates frame identification and navigation.  

Why is this provision necessary? 

Frames provide a means of visually dividing the computer screen into distinct areas that can be 

separately rewritten. Unfortunately, frames can also present difficulties for users with disabilities 

when those frames are not easily identifiable to assistive technology. For instance, a popular 

use of frames is to create "navigational bars" in a fixed position on the screen and have the 

content of the web site retrievable by activating one of those navigational buttons. The new 

content is displayed another area of the screen. Because the navigational bar doesn t change, it 

provides a stable "frame of reference" for users and makes navigation much easier. However, 

users with disabilities may become lost if the differences between the two frames are not clearly 

established. 

What is the best method for identifying frames? 

The most obvious way to accomplish this requirement is to include text within the body of each 

frame that clearly identifies the frame. For instance, in the case of the navigation bar, a web 

developer should consider putting words such as "Navigational Links" at the beginning of the 

contents of the frame to let all users know that the frame depicts navigational links. Providing 

titles like this at the top of the contents of each frame will satisfy these requirements. An 

additional measure that should be considered by agencies is to include meaningful text in the 

 tag s "title" attribute. Although not currently supported by major manufacturers of 

assistive technology, the "title" attribute is part of the HTML 4.0 specification and was intended 

to let web developers include a description of the frame as a quote enclosed string. 

Demonstrating the use of the "title" attribute requires a basic understanding of how frames are 

constructed. When frames are used in a web page, the first page that is loaded must include a 

 tag that encloses the basic layout of the frames on the page. Within the  

tag,  tags specify the name, initial contents, and appearance of each separate frame. 

Thus, the following example uses the "title" attribute to label one frame "Navigational Links 

Frame" and the second frame "Contents Frame." 

National GACC Website and GACC Website Template  

33

  Implementation Guidelines