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Re: Tables and low-vision users

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From: Mike Osborne - AccEase
Date: Dec 9, 2008 3:05PM

Hi Rachel

You've asked a tough question - and it's an area that needs more treatment,
in my opinion.

Low vision users can find it difficult to track across no more than three or
four cells - and under high magnification that may be all that is visible
without horizontal scrolling.

In an application we developed we used tables to show only the relevant
columns that helped identify rows of interest (e.g. names) and then the user
selected the row and were presented the detail (rest of the row) in a column
which was easier to follow as a group.

Obviously this limits the ability for a low vision user to compare rows -
but this is difficult anyway with information presented in the common
tabular format.

Providing this kind of alternative view for all tabular data is no small
undertaking.

A clever browser plugin that can transpose tables perhaps? Has it been done
already?

Regards
Mike Osborne

AccEase Ltd
p. 04 934 2821
m. 021 675 010
e. <EMAIL REMOVED>
w. www.AccEase.com

-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of R Sengers
Sent: Tuesday, 9 December 2008 3:26 p.m.
To: <EMAIL REMOVED>
Subject: [WebAIM] Tables and low-vision users

Any suggestions for how to make tables of data more accessible to
people with low vision, beyond marking up the code for the header row
and header column, and putting strong visual lines between each row
and column? In particular - what would help someone using a screen
magnifier but not a screen reader?

Thanks,
Rachel