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Re: Document table summaries

for

From: L Snider
Date: Oct 25, 2024 5:54AM

Hi Claire,

I don't usually do table summaries, in a rare case I may use them but
haven't for years. However, again I go way past WCAG.

Cheers

Lisa

On Fri, Oct 25, 2024 at 8:31 AM Claire Forbes < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> Good morning, everyone, and happy Friday!
> I'm getting some push back on table summaries in documents - the
> checklists I utilize are adapted from HHS (
> https://www.hhs.gov/web/section-508/accessibility-checklists/index.html)
> and have summaries as a required item under WCAG 1.3.1. Table summaries is
> also an item that Adobe Acrobat Pro Accessibility Checker will flag if it's
> missing.
>
> https://ictbaseline.access-board.gov/alldocsbaselines.html - Section 12:
> Tables references table summaries and that they're not permitted for layout
> tables, "When <table> elements are used for layout purposes, data table
> structure elements such as row/column headers, captions, or table summaries
> are not permitted." So to me this reads that layout tables shouldn't have a
> table summary (which makes sense because layout tables aren't supposed to
> even be tagged as a table), but a data table should have a summary.
>
> However, I'm being told that summaries are no longer a required item for
> Section 508 accessibility - anyone have insight or an opinion on this
> matter?
>
> Thank you,
> Claire Forbes
> Section 508 Specialist
>
> > > > >