When a table is not a table in HTML5

This summer I wanted to merge my index of physical science activities into a calendar grid format with hyperlinks to the relevant files. And I wanted lines and circles that would connect different cells. This later-most requirement effectively ruled out HTML tables because tables resize and SVG lines connecting circles in different cells would not resize. As the final product would still be hard copy to hand out in class, another goal was to put the five pages of information on the index onto a single page. An experiment I did this summer for the summer run of the course worked well enough that I am playing with the concept for the fall calendar. Spacing is tight and font-dependent, but as my goal is simply to produce something I can use I only have to make myself happy.

Philosophically, the result looks like a table and yet underneath it all it is but a set of random lines and drawings. This means that there is absolutely no way someone who is blind could ever determine what the visual result is on the page. The source carries no semantic meaning. This bothers me, but in the end I get exactly what I wanted. The page is interactive on line and can be printed and handed out as a calender. 

The complication is the complicated nature of the file. Editing and updating will be a thorough nightmare. The project remains under construction even as I write this. At present only the first couple weeks are done, the rest is a mish-mosh of the summer coordinates and the new fall grid. Whether I will ever complete the project is unknown to me, for now I have proof-of-concept.

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