Looking to expand your knowledge of digital accessibility and learn quick strategies that you can easily integrate into your workflow? CATL’s blog post series on digital accessibility catalogues some helpful tips and tricks we’ve shared in our Teach Tuesday e-newsletter!
In this tip, we’ll explain when to use a table and how to use table captions and headers to improve a table’s accessibility.
Tables are a useful tool for sorting information in rows and columns, such as a course schedule, a feature comparison chart for two products, or a summary of data from a research experiment. Generally, tables should not be used to create page layouts and should be reserved for presenting tabular data.
You can make a table more accessible by adding a descriptive caption and row or column headers. Including a caption gives the table a descriptive title, helping students understand its purpose, while row and column headers provide clear structure and context, allowing screen readers to convey the information accurately to students who use assisted technology.
Creating accessible tables not only ensures compliance with digital accessibility guidelines, but it also makes it easier for all students to engage with your course content.
Additional Guidelines for Creating Accessible Tables
- Don’t use screenshots of tables. A screen reader cannot read an image aloud, and putting the entirety of a table into an image’s alt text is not recommended. Instead, use the built-in table options in your document or webpage to create an accessible table.
- Use a simple table structure. Avoid using nested tables and merged or split cells, which can cause issues for users who rely on screen readers or keyboard navigation.
- Avoid leaving cells blank, which can mislead a user of a screen reader into thinking that there is information missing from the table or that the table has ended abruptly. Instead, use a placeholder like “N/A” for cells that have no data.
- Learn more about building accessible tables in Canvas and adding table headers in Microsoft Word.
- To learn more about these concepts and see examples, visit the WebAIM guide on tables.
Looking for More Tips?
Explore even more quick tips in our Digital Accessibility Tips post, where you’ll find a growing list of strategies to help make your course materials more accessible.
Further Accessibility Training
Ready to dive deeper into digital accessibility? Essentials of Accessibility for Faculty and Staff is a free, self-paced, online course that will teach you the basics of digital accessibility and accessibility best practices for several key applications that UW-Green Bay employees may use in their daily work. We encourage you to self-enroll in the course to learn practical approaches for remediating digital accessibility issues in a variety of use cases and applications.
Connect with CATL
You are not alone in your accessibility journey! While CATL cannot advise on the legal specifications of Title II, instructors are always welcome to schedule a consultation with us or stop by our office (CL 405) to discuss the accessibility of your teaching materials.