WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Reading tables in JAWS

for

From: Don Mauck
Date: Feb 5, 2014 7:36AM


For most standard tables you will miss getting accurate information from the columns and rows that match the data in the cells of the table. If you are using an ARIA grid then using the arrow keys will be sufficient. Remember that using the tab key inside a table is different than using the table reading commands and while it shouldn't happen, there are times that the form field elements might not be labeled so you get screen readers that start guessing which can also complicate things.
This is certainly a challenge to get screen reader users to really know their product, and think "beyond the tab key.,
-----Original Message-----
From: Olaf Drümmer [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ]
Sent: Tuesday, February 04, 2014 4:09 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Reading tables in JAWS

On 4 Feb 2014, at 23:59, Don Mauck < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> Anyone that just uses the arrow keys or the tab keys will never be able to successfully use and navigate tables using a screen reader.

why is that? Aren't arrow keys a good default method to walk through a table?

It would be a matter of setting user preferences to control how much accompanying information - on top of the cell's content - would be presented (like type of cell, applicable header cells, etc.)

Olaf