Tables and Accessibility

What are Tables? 

Tables are an organizational tool that can be used on a page, a slide, or within any text area to visually display related information in a meaningful way. Tables can be a great way for organizing and presenting categories of related data, using designated rows and columns. When a screen reader encounters a table, it announces the structure of the table first - the number of rows and columns, column and row heading information, and the size of the table. Column and row heading details are necessary to provide the assistive technology (screen reader) with contextual information to guide reading order and direction.  

Why (or why not) use Tables? 

Use tables sparingly, and only for the purpose of clarifying relationships between information or data. For example, a table can be useful when displaying related accounting information over a number of years, where each column is a specified year, and each row is an aspect of business expenses, earnings, and totals. A table is a way of including a readable chart – visually demonstrating how information is interrelated. 

Avoid using tables for the purpose of page-layout or visual design. This complicates the output of a screen reader, making it more difficult for students to understand what’s being read aloud. Display page content in the simplest format possible. For example, when including a list of information use bullets or numbers rather than a table. Use appropriate html or formatting tools to embed images and develop the appearance of a page.  

How to use Tables and Make them Accessible in Canvas 

Within Canvas you can insert a table using the Rich Content Editor. For more information, view Instructure’s Tutorial Video on inserting tables. Make sure you indicate which row (and/or column) is the header. This provides correct information to a screen reader, making the other content of the table easier to read and understand.

You can use the Rich Content Editor Accessibility Checker to make sure everything on the page (or in an assignment, discussion, announcement, quiz, etc.) is fully accessible.

To format information on a page in Canvas, use the options within the Rich Content Editor. Or, for more advanced design options, you can use the HTML editor. There are numerous resources available online, including a code snippet for columns without tables from the Canvas Community site and HTML tutorials and guides from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) success criteria

Creating accessible tables meets Success Criteria 1.3.1 Info and Relationships.