Table Metadata
The first step in making a table accessible is to provide
descriptions of the table using the caption
element and summary
attribute.
The caption
element introduced
earlier in this chapter provides a short descriptive title for the
table. Visual browsers display the contents of the caption
element above or below the table, as
specified by an attribute or style property.
The summary
attribute in the
table
element may provide a more
lengthy description of the table. It is analogous to the alt
attribute for images. Unlike the caption
element, the value of the summary
attribute is not rendered by visual
browsers.
The summary may give visually impaired users a better understanding of the table’s contents and organization that sighted users could understand at a glance. This alleviates the need to read through several rows of data to decide whether a table will be useful. Although the summary is available for longer descriptions, authors are advised to keep summary descriptions clear and succinct and use them only when necessary.
The table in Figure 13-8 might be given the following caption and summary (note that summaries are more useful for tables that are more complex than this one).
<table summary="
A comparison of major features for each planet in the solar system, relative to characteristics of the Earth.">
<caption>
Solar System Summary</caption>
<tr>(table continues...)
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