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Re: Tables and Excel: merged or unmerged cells?

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From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Apr 16, 2012 7:59AM

Hi Duff et al

I'll try to find and give a specific example with a document later.
The short answer is that I have had major issues with documents where
there is a large set of merged columns with information.
Let us say there is a set of merged column a through l.
May be this is done to isolate a specific area of information, such as
departmental revenues.
Jaws usually treats all of this area as one cell, and will not allow
me to jump into specific columns within it unless I instruct it to go
to a particular cell (say k3).
Jaws will read all the departmental info sitting in a row in this area
as values of a single cell, and will not allow me to use arrow keys to
browser through each column within the merged area either.
I have seen this in multiple forms I have worked with (though it has
been a few months, and I don't have a form handy right at this very
moment).
Whether the problem stems from the fact that the author actually
tagged the merged area incorrectly .. may be the merging should only
have applied to the first row or the header itself, not to the
information below, or whether this is a Jaws bug I can't say for sure.
The more general question of who is responsible for accessibility,
document and web page authors who follow standards, or Assistive
Technology vendors, is an age old one and subject to much broader
discussion.
I agree with you that you cannot and shold not expect mainstream
document authors to have to anticipate problems with specific screen
reading technology, and that the A.T. vendors need to do a much better
job with their software.
I will try and find a particular document and describe precisely what
happens with its use and Jaws later today or early tomorrow.
Thanks
-Birkir

On 4/16/12, Duff Johnson < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> 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! *
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> >> >> >
>
>
>
> > > >