WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Use of the scope attribute with TH elements

for

From: Paul Bohman
Date: Feb 4, 2014 9:59AM

Using only <th> for cells across the top (column headers) works pretty
universally without scope, but I still recommend using scope, to make the
purpose of the th unambiguous.

Using <th> for cells in the left column (row headers) is not as universally
supported without scope, so always include the scope for row headers.

The headers + id method for complex tables with spanned cells works great
in JAWS and NVDA and does not work at all in VoiceOver. The VoiceOver
implementation is quite broken. VoiceOver requires simple table structure,
or else you have to essentially create the table from scratch using ARIA
grid structure, which is no fun, and works only in the OSX and not in
mobile iOS. I don't know of a solution for iPhones/iPads. Only simple table
structures work on Mac mobile platforms, as far as I know.


Paul Bohman, PhD
Director of Training
Deque Systems, Inc
www.deque.com
703-225-0380, ext.121


On Tue, Jan 28, 2014 at 7:17 AM, Liko, Todd < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> Hi Olaf.
>
> Thank you for your reply.
>
> When you say 'it is almost impossible to interpret this structure in the
> wrong fashion; scope attributes could not add any information' you are
> referring to assistive technologies such as screen readers. I realize we
> should not be coding for assistive technologies, they should be conforming
> with the standards. I tend to err on the side of caution and given that the
> scope attribute has defined purpose and does not hinder the reading of a
> table when used, that is why I have continued to use it.
>
> In addition, as previously noted, most of the information out there,
> including the revamped WebAim website, still say to use the scope attribute
> for simple tables.
>
> Once again, I appreciate your reply.
>
> Todd.
>
>