Checkpoint 1.6 - Wikis

All tables must be accessible

WCAG 1.0 Priority 1

WCAG Guideline 5. Create tables that transform gracefully.

Tables need to be accessible for assistive technologies such as screen readers in addition to visually presenting data on the screen.

All tables must be accessible.

Table accessibility can be achieved using a number of different methods, such as:

correctly identifying row and column header information
adding a summary attribute - this should contain information about the purpose of the table
adding a caption where appropriate - if the table is directly preceded by a relevant heading, captions are not necessary
Simplifying the table as much as possible

Tables should be simplified as much as possible.

For more information and for the relevant checking tools refer to the Tables section of the Developer's Resource Kit Core Guidelines.

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