WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

RE: Table headers not behaving

for

From: Paul Bohman
Date: Sep 10, 2002 9:23AM

You've run across a bug in the JAWS algorithms, which is documented in
the WebAIM tables tutorial at http://www.webaim.org/howto/tables3
(towards the bottom of the page). Connect Outloud is essentially a
scaled down version of JAWS, with the same bugs.

JAWS simply cannot handle any tables with any spanned rows or columns
correctly. It's sad, but true. Other screen readers do not have the same
problem. This is a bug specific to JAWS. IBM Home Page Reader and Window
Eyes, for example, would read this table correctly.

The only solution, unfortunately, is to change the structure of the
table. In many cases this is a difficult proposition, and it may not be
possible to restructure all such tables. In some cases, you may have to
provide an additional alternative version of the data outside of a
table, like this:

<begin example>
Rate information for "Classic Card:"
Rate for first six months: annual - 0%, monthly - 0%.
Ongoing rate: annual 13.9% - p.a., monthly - 1.09%.
APR for purchases and balance transfers: annual - 11.5% APR, monthly -
not applicable.
<end example>

I know that most developers don't like it when I tell them about this
bug in JAWS. I don't like it either, but we have to remember that JAWS
is just software, and like all software, it has its glitches.

If you're now getting worried about other potential bugs in screen
readers, don't worry too much. There are little things here and there,
but not like this one. Most of the problems have to do with lack of
support for certain accessibility features, rather than actual bugs. But
the table rowspan/columnspan issue is an actual bug. JAWS reads the
*wrong* headers when you span rows or columns.

Paul Bohman
Technology Coordinator
WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind)
www.webaim.org
Center for Persons with Disabilities
www.cpd.usu.edu
Utah State University
www.usu.edu