Web Development
Web Developer Guidelines
Visual Design Recommendations

Checkpoint 2.4 - Core

Data table row and column headers are marked up appropriately

WCAG 1.0 Priority 1

WCAG Guideline 5. Create tables that transform gracefully.

Users of text-only browsers or screen readers rely on the headers to gain an understanding of the table structure.

Headers must be defined by the <th> attribute, which conveys the table structure in a non-visual way. If headers are not correctly identified in the underlying HTML, the contextual information required to understand the structure of a table will be lost when it is read by a text-only browser or screen reader, rendering the information in the table useless.

Requirement

For data tables that have two or more logical levels of row or column headers, use markup to associate data cells and header cells.

Recommendation

Choose names for the table header attributes which are appropriate to the table contents.

Checking Tool

  • Firefox - Web Developer's Toolbar: Outline > Outline Table Information
  • Internet Explorer - AIS Toolbar: Structure > Show Table Headers information

Information Source

The original source of this information is located on the W3C web site  (www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-TECHS/#tech-table-structure)

 

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