scope (HTML attribute)
| Depr. | Version |
|---|---|
| No | HTML 4 |
| IE5.5+ | FF1+ | SA1.3+ | OP9.2+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full | Full | Full | Full |
Syntax
Description
The
scope attribute provides a mechanism for
associating the cell to which the attribute is applied with a column or
row of data. Normally this attribute is used in the context of a table
header—the th element—but it may
be used validly with a td
element.
Example
The information “Acme Industries” is associated with all the cells in its row:
<tr> <th>Company</th> <th>Employees</th> <th>Founded</th> </tr> <tr> <td scope="row">Acme Industries</td> <td>1000</td> <td>1978</td> </tr>
Value
The most common attributes you’ll use with
scope are "col" and
"row". However, if you’ve also marked up your
table with colgroup elements, you can make use of the matching
"colgroup" value to associate the header with all the
columns in that colgroup. One other attribute is available:
"rowgroup", which applies to a cell that’s spanned
using the rowspan attribute.
Compatibility
| Internet Explorer | Firefox | Safari | Opera | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.5 | 6.0 | 7.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 1.3 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 9.2 | 9.5 |
| Full | Full | Full | Full | Full | Full | Full | Full | Full | Full | Full |
It’s difficult to state the browser compatibility for this attribute, as the issue depends on how well the assistive technology copes with this information. Regardless, the use of headers is the correct thing to do, so if you have complex tables, make an effort to ensure that you mark them up in a way that ensures that the data is accessible for all.
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