Tabular Data & Tables

Tables are particularly difficult to understand when read by a screen reader when not coded properly. By default, screen readers will read each row, left to right. By the time the listener hears the data on row 3, they may no longer remember which column is which.

For that reason we use tags to identify column and row headers. The scope attribute identifies which data cells are associated to this heading. When coded properly, the screen reader will read the heading, then the associated data, the next heading, followed by the associated data, etc.

Captions are added for additional explanation.

Example 1

Listing of Newspaper Employees
Name	Department	Title	Supervisor
Mary Jones	World News	Editor	Yes
Tom Smith	Local News	Copywriter	No

HTML Code for Example 1:

<table class="tableBorder width100pct" summary="Listing of Newspaper Employees" >
  <caption>Listing of Newspaper Employees
    <br/>
  </caption>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <th> Name</th>
      <th>Department </th>
      <th>Title </th>
      <th>Supervisor </th>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td> Mary Jones</td>
      <td>World News </td>
      <td>Editor </td>
      <td>Yes </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td> Tom Smith</td>
      <td>Local News </td>
      <td>Copywriter </td>
      <td>No </td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Example 2

Simple Data Table
	Column 1 Header	Column 2 Header
Row 1 Header	Column 1 Row 1 data	Column 2 Row 1 data
Row 2 Header	Column 2 Row 1 data	Column 2 Row 1 data

HTML Code for Example 2

<table summary="Simple Data Table" class="width100pct tableBorder">
<caption>
Simple Data Table
</caption>
<tbody>
  <tr>
   <th> </th>
   <th> Column 1 Header </th>
   <th> Column 2 Header </th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <th> Row 1 Header </th>
   <td> Column 1 Row 1 data </td>
   <td>Column 2 Row 1 data </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <th> Row 2 Header </th>
   <td> Column 2 Row 1 data</td>
   <td>Column 2 Row 1 data </td>
  </tr>
</tbody>
</table>

Best Practices

Always use <th> elements for header items.
Always use scope attributes in <th> tags unless id and headers attributes are required.
Always use <caption> elements.
Use summary attributes for complicated tables.
Use <table> elements for tabular data. Use <div> and <span> elements to affect layout.
Avoid cells that span multiple rows or multiple columns.