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From: Alan Zaitchik
Date: Tue, Feb 20 2018 8:02AM
Subject: Table regularity versus empty table cell
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Has anyone noticed the following? A PDF I am working on has a data table with an empty cell in column 1 row 2. (The rest of the table is regular, with appropriate column headers, no row headers, etc.) The Acrobat Accessibility Checker complains that the table fails Regularity unless I add an (empty) TD cell, so that row 2 has as many columns as the rest of the table rows do. However, if I add that empty TD then CommonLook (HHS standard) fails the table for having an empty cell! I cannot edit the PDF or the source file, e.g. to add "N/A" or its ilk to the added cell.
So which is preferable? An empty TD cell or a row with no TD cell in that column?
Does JAWS (or NVDA or ... ) actually care?
Thanks,
A

From: Philip Kiff
Date: Tue, Feb 20 2018 11:14AM
Subject: Re: Table regularity versus empty table cell
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I think it is preferable to insert an empty TD cell, but I'd be curious
to hear what others think, or if there is actually a hard-and-fast
guideline that covers this case.

For what it's worth, the PAC (PDF Accessibility Checker) will also fail
a PDF that does not have the same number of TD tags in each row (taking
into account any col spans in the headers), and it does not seem to care
if a data cell is empty.

You might also check to see if the error in CommonLook relates to *how
many* empty cells you have in a row?

Or maybe you have additional empty tags (like P tags) inside empty TD
tags and maybe those are being flagged (as opposed to just the empty TDs
on their own)?

Phil.

On 2018-02-20 10:02 AM, Alan Zaitchik wrote:
> Has anyone noticed the following? A PDF I am working on has a data table with an empty cell in column 1 row 2. (The rest of the table is regular, with appropriate column headers, no row headers, etc.) The Acrobat Accessibility Checker complains that the table fails Regularity unless I add an (empty) TD cell, so that row 2 has as many columns as the rest of the table rows do. However, if I add that empty TD then CommonLook (HHS standard) fails the table for having an empty cell! I cannot edit the PDF or the source file, e.g. to add "N/A" or its ilk to the added cell.
> So which is preferable? An empty TD cell or a row with no TD cell in that column?
> Does JAWS (or NVDA or ... ) actually care?
> Thanks,
> A
>
> > > >

From: Philip Kiff
Date: Tue, Feb 20 2018 11:52AM
Subject: Re: Table regularity versus empty table cell
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Oh, one more thought about possible solutions. You could tag one of the
empty cell borders as a figure, add an alt text of "empty cell" or "n/a"
and then move that Figure tag so that it is a child of the empty TD tag.
I wouldn't promote this as a best practice, but it is an accessible
method of getting around issues related to empty TD cells when you
cannot edit the actual visible text.

Phil.

On 2018-02-20 1:14 PM, Philip Kiff wrote:
> I think it is preferable to insert an empty TD cell, but I'd be
> curious to hear what others think, or if there is actually a
> hard-and-fast guideline that covers this case.
>
> For what it's worth, the PAC (PDF Accessibility Checker) will also
> fail a PDF that does not have the same number of TD tags in each row
> (taking into account any col spans in the headers), and it does not
> seem to care if a data cell is empty.
>
> You might also check to see if the error in CommonLook relates to *how
> many* empty cells you have in a row?
>
> Or maybe you have additional empty tags (like P tags) inside empty TD
> tags and maybe those are being flagged (as opposed to just the empty
> TDs on their own)?
>
> Phil.
>
> On 2018-02-20 10:02 AM, Alan Zaitchik wrote:
>> Has anyone noticed the following? A PDF I am working on has a data
>> table with an empty cell in column 1 row 2. (The rest of the table is
>> regular, with appropriate column headers, no row headers, etc.) The
>> Acrobat Accessibility Checker complains that the table fails
>> Regularity unless I add an (empty) TD cell, so that row 2 has as many
>> columns as the rest of the table rows do. However, if I add that
>> empty TD then CommonLook (HHS standard) fails the table for having an
>> empty cell! I cannot edit the PDF or the source file, e.g. to add
>> "N/A" or its ilk to the added cell.
>> So which is preferable? An empty TD cell or a row with no TD cell in
>> that column?
>> Does JAWS (or NVDA or ... ) actually care?
>> Thanks,
>> A
>>
>> >> >> >> >
> > > >