WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

RE: using table headers as form labels

for

From: Paul Bohman
Date: Oct 8, 2003 1:38PM

All of the responses to the original question about forms and tables have
provided some good information, but I don't think that any of them directly
addressed the problem that was originally asked.

The problem is not so much with tables per se, but with form labels. The
original query referenced a page that was using table headers to perform the
function of form labels. This makes sense to most visual users, but it does
create problems for those who use screen readers.

It is a problem that I have seen before, and which others have wondered
about, but I don't recall ever seeing a satisfactory answer.

I created a test page at http://www.webaim.org/temp/table-form.htm to see if
I could come up with a good solution, but, to be honest, none of the
solutions that I came up with are good enough.

Please visit the test page and read my comments about each of the tests,
then see if you can come up with something better. I'm hopeful that either
someone else has already thought of a solution, or that we can come up with
one as a result of this discussion.

Thanks for your input.

Paul Bohman
Technology Coordinator
WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind)
www.webaim.org
Center for Persons with Disabilities
www.cpd.usu.edu
Utah State University
www.usu.edu