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Re: Asking for views on using h1-h6 heading markup insidedatatables

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From: Karlen Communications
Date: Aug 30, 2017 8:54AM

From a best practices point of view in accessible document design, we don't put headings in tables. Headings are navigational structures and you don't typically navigate to a single cell in a table. Once we do land on that cell, we have to use the table reading and navigation commands to move around the table anyway.

As someone who, like Kelly, uses a screen reader, I find it annoying to navigate to a single cell in a table. As someone who writes books and provides training on accessible document design, it is a "just say NO!"

I know, you now have two perspectives. It has always been a best practice not to use tables for design layout and adding headings to table cells is part of that concept/poor design.

We have to focus on good design, not compensating for people not knowing how to use their adaptive technology.

Cheers, Karen