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Presenting tabular data in visually non-tabular ways

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From: Meacham, Steve - FSA, Kansas City, MO
Date: Mar 5, 2015 11:29AM

I'm seeing this pattern more and more often: rows of data presented that could/should/would have traditionally been in a table with well-defined columns, but now presented as more of a blob of text. For example:

Assigned
Due 3/1/2015

Farm #12345 - 2,500 Acres
Montgomery County, Michigan
Approver: Jonathan McCormick

Started
Due 5/10/2015

Farm #2345 - 1,200 Acres
Montgomery County, Michigan
Approver: Jonathan McCormick

Competed
Due 5/15/2015

Farm #45689 - 450 Acres
Montgomery County, Michigan
Approver: Randy Smith

Approved
Due 6/1/2015

Farm #3214 - 12,450 Acres
Montgomery County, Michigan
Approver: Julia Bartosky


Visually, this actually seems to work. If you were trying to pick something from a list of items, all the necessary distinctives are there, positioned consistently to allow quickly scanning through the rows with our eyes. There are even in-line labels for non-self-evident data elements.

I don't believe that this works so well for users of AT, such as single-line refreshable Braille, or screen readers. How can such a user 'scan' the information, looking at one column-equivalent of data (Approver, for example, in the example above)?

What is our response, as both UX and Accesibility professionals?

Steve Meacham
FSA Section 508 Coordinator
Office: +1 (816) 926-1942
Call or Text: +1 (202) 455-USDA (8732)





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