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Re: PDF tables that span pages / repeating header rows / AT

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From: Karlen Communications
Date: Jun 19, 2017 10:05AM


Do you have your preferences set to load a single page or all pages? If you have your preferences set to load single pages, you won't have access to any links, headings or TH Tags on a previous page, only the content on the page that is loaded.

Cheers, Karen

-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Dona Patrick
Sent: June 12, 2017 7:40 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: [WebAIM] PDF tables that span pages / repeating header rows / AT

I've been recommending and following my own advice that when tables span pages on PDF files the header rows that are repeated on each page after the first page should be marked as background, and the table be combined into one (as recommended by HHS' Encouraged Fixes for PDF files <https://www.hhs.gov/web/section-508/making-files-accessible/pdf-encouraged/index.html>
).

Repeated Headers are not Tagged as Background A data table spans more than one page and the repeated header row on each page is tagged instead of being marked as background. Tag all repeated headers as background and remove TR tags from tag tree. For this item, ASPA/DCD uses manual inspection. Inspect the document for tables that span pages. Open the tag tree to see if the repeated header is tagged. No tools used.
Recently I have tried to read these tables using JAWS and discovered that the JAWS does not recognize the header cells on subsequent pages (pages where the header cells are artifacted). JAWS associates the row header cells, but not the (properly marked up) column header cells with the data cells.

I assume my settings on JAWS or Acrobat are not correct, because why would this be recommended if the header cells on previous pages are not being announced by screen readers?

Thank you,

Dona Patrick