Speaking of source order, that affects more than accessibility. Not to mention a screen reader may even announce the start of tabular data which would be worse than useless. That means the order of how your site is presented is dictated by the table structure, which is dictated by visual choices not accessibility choices. Screen readers read tables from top to bottom, left to right. One part of accessibility is screen readers. Talking about semantics is a little difficult sometimes (some reads: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5), so let’s talk about something we all generally agree on (even if we aren’t as good as it as we want to be): websites should be accessible. You aren’t going to get a fine in the mail, but you aren’t getting as much value from your HTML as you could. Using them for anything else is a breach of semantic duty. As we covered, table elements semantically describe tabular data.

There are some significant problems with using tables for layout though. Easy to control, extremely logical, predictable, and not-at-all fragile. At a glance at how tables work may make them seem ideal for layout. When Not To Use TablesĪn inappropriate use for tables is for layout. Tables are the right choice when that is the case. That’s not true – they semantically indicate tabular data. You might occasionally hear: tables are unsemantic. What kinds of things are appropriate in tables? Here are some: a plan/pricing/features comparison, bowling scores, an internal grid of employee data, financial data, a calendar, the nutrition facts information panel, a logic puzzle solver, etc. The “would this make sense in a spreadsheet?” test is usually appropriate.

Perhaps you’ve heard the generic advice: tables are for tabular data (see the first sentence of this blog post). It’s a good time to take a break and discuss the when of tables. Just make on row of all and then each subsequent row with the first cell only as. It’s just no more important than the vertical column of headers so it feels weird to group that top row alone.

I might skip a in this situation even though that first row is all header.

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