Accessible tables: the questions we get asked most

The version of this that works is simpler than the version most people imagine. The questions about accessible tables that come up most often on our calls.

Most of it is correctness rather than charity: use the right element and much of it happens automatically. Doing this properly once is usually cheaper than doing it approximately three times.

Do we need to care about this?

Header cells must be marked as headers. Small and consistent beats large and occasional here. It is worth deciding this deliberately rather than inheriting whatever the last person set up.

Can it wait until after launch?

Occasionally. More often the post-launch version costs several times the pre-launch one. None of that requires a large budget, only a decision and someone to own it.

How do we know it is working?

A caption tells people what they are reading. There is a version of this that is over-engineered, and it is worth avoiding. It is the sort of thing that looks like polish right up until it costs you an enquiry.

In practice

Accessibility work almost always improves the experience for people who have no impairment at all. Three things worth confirming about accessible tables before you move on:

• Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
• Never use tables purely for layout — and you know whether that is true here
• There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped

If any of that sounds like a description of your current setup, it is fixable.