Tables
Layout Tables verse Data Tables
Never use tables for presentation and layout. A CSS based layout should be used for all web pages. Screen readers can handle a CSS based layout much better than a table based layout. Tables should only present data like financial results, rainfall totals or bus schedules.
How Tables Linearize
Below is a very simple table with two coumns and three rows. The numbers indicate the order in which the table contents are read by a screen reader. Screen readers all start with the first row, completely read each cell there (including nested tables), and then proceeds to the next row. This method of reading the contents of a table is called linearization.
| 1 | 2 |
|---|---|
| 3 | 4 |
| 5 | 6 |
References
- Thatcher, J, Web Accessibility: Web Standards and Regulatory Compliance. Berkeley, CA: friends of ED/Apress, 2006.