WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: InDesign and complex data tables

for

From: Marshall Sunnes
Date: May 10, 2019 3:03PM

It is mostly possible, but often I still have to dip into Acrobat Pro. I've
had OK success, particularly if I create the table through the table
creator tool (Table > Create Table).

Spanned Cells
If you created the table using the table tool, then selecting the cells and
merging them will properly span them within the PDF when it exports (
https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/formatting-tables.html#merge_and_split_cells
).

Header Row(s)
You are able to set multiple header rows, but only at the top and multiple
rows if they are touching all the way to the top row. To mark a row as a
header row: select row, menu bar > Table > Convert Rows > To Header. If a
new header row happens in the middle of the document, then the only real I
option I can see is to split the table, which probably isn't an option for
you. Finally, in older versions of In-Design, I remember it being possible
to select a partial row as a header row, but not anymore.

There doesn't seem to be a way to mark a header column. I just do that in
Acrobat Pro manually, either by using the Reading Order tool > Table Editor
or dig into the tags. Secondly, I haven't been able to figure out how to
add a table description within in-design, which will lead to a fail in the
Acrobat checker (if you opt to even include it in your eval).

-Marshall


On Fri, May 3, 2019 at 2:01 PM Sean Keegan < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> Is it possible to set up accessible data tables in InDesign?
>
> These are not your simple data tables with single column or row headers,
> but involve data tables with several column spans and row spans.
> Unfortunately, according to the document author, it is not an option to
> create simple data tables for the data information that is to be presented.
>
> Most of the information I have found indicates that the accessibility
> tagging needs to happen after the PDF has been generated out of InDesign.
> Is it possible to set up complex data tables in InDesign or is this
> something that must be addressed by managing the Tags tree after the PDF
> has been rendered?
>
> Thanks,
> Sean
> > > https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__list.webaim.org_&d=DwICAg&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=cXj9zeYcj_L9F2wRWNJV-Q&m=9BGVHITtN5hbdxtEXFpUm3NVR6wnph5n_4U0eJEoynI&s=o6JtyqxFpj4tO_bvDjTpAy1BlRMS_NFfQkfOEMtxMk8&e=
> List archives at
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__webaim.org_discussion_archives&d=DwICAg&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=cXj9zeYcj_L9F2wRWNJV-Q&m=9BGVHITtN5hbdxtEXFpUm3NVR6wnph5n_4U0eJEoynI&s=J4u_OfsxyaVROcPWuJvmYXaCK5y7ESDZhvQJtgmZmkM&e=
> >