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Re: Word documents and tables

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From: Michael.Moore
Date: Oct 26, 2010 2:09PM

Just a word of caution - pun intended. The use of bookmarks to add table header support in Word is a JAWS specific hack. It does not work with other screen readers and is very fragile. You must name the bookmark "Title, RowTitle, or ColumnTitle" If you change the table or add additional tables you may need to redo the bookmarks. You will definitely need the version of JFW that your JAWS users will be working with to test and make sure things are working. Freedom Scientific has information in the release notes for JFW 6 http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_jaws60fea.asp What is left out in that documentation is how to deal with multiple tables in a document. Bookmarks must all be unique so adding a .1, .2 will usually keep things working, at least in JFW 9, 10, and 11. We have not tested in JFW 12 yet.

The basics of MS Word table accessibility are: Use the insert table command to create the table, keep the tables simple, one row of column headings and one column of row headings is preferred. Do not use merged cells. Uncheck allow rows to break across columns, and check repeat as header row for the header row(s). This second item will provide the column headers when you convert the document to PDF or HTML. Most screen readers allow their users a method to mark rows and columns as headers but many screen reader users do not know how to do this. If you are planning for public distribution of the document, HTML and PDF offer much more robust support for tables. You cannot make complex tables directly accessible in Word. At least not to my knowledge.

If you have Office 2007 or 2010 you can use more than one row of column headers and these will transfer to PDF or to HTML using Adobe's Acrobat Pro or Dreamweaver products. You will need to add the row headers once the conversion is complete. You can also add headers and IDs to support complex tables.


Mike Moore