# 17. XHTML Caption Module

Contents

This section is normative.

The Caption Module defines an element to be used when annotating a description for certain elements. The element and attributes defined by this module are:

Elements | Attributes | Content Model
--- | --- | ---
caption | Common | ( Text)*

Implementations: RELAX NG, XML Schema

## 17.1. The caption element

Attributes

The Common collection
  A collection of other attribute collections, including: Bi-directional, Core, Edit, Embedding, Events, Forms, Hypertext, I18N, Map, Metainformation, and Role

When present, the caption element"s text should describe the nature of the table, list or object. The caption element is only permitted immediately after the table start tag, the ol start tag or the object start tag. A table, ol or object element may only contain one caption element.

For tables, visual user agents allow sighted people to quickly grasp the structure of the table from the headings as well as the caption. A consequence of this is that captions will often be inadequate as a summary of the purpose and structure of the table from the perspective of people relying on non-visual user agents.