WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Tables and Excel: merged or unmerged cells?

for

From: Duff Johnson
Date: Apr 16, 2012 7:41AM

Birkir,

Thank you for the fascinating explanation.

I can certainly believe that simpler tables (no merged cells, fewest possible heading levels, etc) are easier to read under any circumstances, AT included. I have a few questions.

- What's the problem (specifically) with numerical values in merged cells?

- Why does JAWS "get confused" when processing a table? Assuming the right attributes are in place, it's a programmatically determinable structure after all, regardless of the heading levels, merged cells (TH and/or TD) and so on.

- Assuming JAWS (and others) do get confused, why isn't this simply a bug in the software to be fixed rather than a "fact of life" with implications for document authors (as opposed to AT software developers)?

Duff.




On Apr 14, 2012, at 9:56 PM, Birkir R. Gunnarsson wrote:

> When you can avoid merging, please always do so (from a screen reader
> user who made a living as a risk analyst working in Excel for 3
> years).
> I think having a heading for a merged column cells is ok, but screen
> reader (at least Jaws, who generally works best with Excel), easily
> get confused and unwieldy with merged columns.
> Definitely *never* put numerical information in merged cells, just please no.
> Heading in merged cells are ok, though you should always supply the
> download link for these documents with a link or article on how to
> unmerge cells with various screen readers.
> I personally don't see why you need to repeat a heading above each
> column, if there is a:
>
> fruit cars
> apples pairs toyotas
> ..
> it's usually very obvious which column belongs to each super-heading.
> To summarize:
> unmerged is better, numerical information provided in a merged field
> is nearly impossible to work with as a screen reader user.
> Provide quick hints on how to unmerge cells in Excel in screen readers
> (I can dig this up and send to list if wanted), with the download link
> to spreadsheets, or provide a link to the page that explains it.
> Thanks
> -B
>
> On 4/15/12, Bevi Chagnon < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>> I have a question for our list members who use assistive technologies.
>>
>> Do you want cells in a Word table or Excel spreadsheet merged or unmerged?
>>
>> I'm asking because I've received conflicting information from government
>> clients. A few years ago I worked directly with an accessibility tester at
>> the National Federation of the Blind to test Excel spreadsheets for a
>> federal government agency. The tester wanted merged cells that spanned
>> appropriate columns or rows.
>>
>> But many U.S. government agencies have guidelines requiring cells to be
>> unmerged in Word tables and Excel spreadsheets.
>>
>> Here's a quick sample (also in the Word and Excel attachments). The header
>> "Apples" spans 2 columns, Macintosh and Red Delicious. "Pears" spans 2
>> columns, Bosc and Bartlett. (Please note that TD tags will be applied in the
>> actual Word documents).
>>
>>
>> Sales of produce for 2011 and 2012 by variety
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Apples
>>
>> Pears
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Macintosh
>>
>> Red Delicious
>>
>> Bosc
>>
>> Bartlett
>>
>>
>> 2011
>>
>> 2000
>>
>> 2500
>>
>> 3000
>>
>> 3500
>>
>>
>> 2012
>>
>> 1000
>>
>> 1500
>>
>> 2000
>>
>> 2500
>>
>> Some government agencies require this version below, where "Apples" is
>> repeated above each column, making the table ridiculously complex for
>> sighted users.
>>
>>
>> Sales of produce for 2011 and 2012 by variety
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Apples
>>
>> Apples
>>
>> Pears
>>
>> Pears
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Macintosh
>>
>> Red Delicious
>>
>> Bosc
>>
>> Bartlett
>>
>>
>> 2011
>>
>> 2000
>>
>> 2500
>>
>> 3000
>>
>> 3500
>>
>>
>> 2012
>>
>> 1000
>>
>> 1500
>>
>> 2000
>>
>> 2500
>>
>> WCAG 2.0 has notes about the scope attribute, but that is for HTML webpages
>> only and is not available (at this time) for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and
>> other non-web documents.
>>
>> Thanks for any guidance you can give.
>>
>> -- Bevi
>>
>> --
>>
>> Bevi Chagnon | <EMAIL REMOVED>
>>
>> PubCom - Trainers, consultants, designers, and developers
>>
>> Print, Web, Acrobat, XML, eBooks, and Federal Section 508
>>
>> --
>>
>> * It's our 31st Year! *
>>
>>
>>
>>
> > >