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public:nnels:etext:tables [2022/06/23 17:39] rachel.osolen [Q&A Archive] |
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- | ===== Tables ===== | ||
- | When tables are not structured accessibly, the data they contain can quickly become a meaningless sea of numbers, facts and figures to someone moving through them a cell at a time. Readers who cannot see the table cannot use visual cheats like checking the alignment and scanning back to the top headings to orient themselves as they go. Equivalent information needs to be encoded into the table to facilitate comprehension. | ||
- | Tables are meant to be used for tabular information (data). Tables should never be used to lay out documents. When editing a book, recreate charts and tables using the default functionality of the software (i.e. the '' | ||
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- | Tables have a logical reading order from left to right and top to bottom. Screenreader users can easily navigate to and examine data in tables. There are specific keyboard controls for reading tables that differ to the controls for reading regular text. When non-tabular text is rendered with tables, the reading controls are incorrect. This can make it confusing and difficult to read the document with a screenreader. | ||
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- | Do not present non-tabular information in a table format even if it presented as such in a book (i.e. a grocery list with two columns). | ||
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- | ====How to insert a table==== | ||
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- | [[https:// | ||
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- | Keep your tables simple without any extra modifications. | ||
- | ====Descriptions, | ||
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- | Captions come with the table (they’re provided by the publisher.) Descriptions, | ||
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- | ===Descriptions (Alt-Text)=== | ||
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- | A description should always be included to give context to a table. Never rely on the surrounding text to explain the presence of a table, especially when the table is offset from the content. | ||
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- | Descriptions should answer the question: “What is the table’s purpose and how is it organized? | ||
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- | <WRAP center round box 80%> | ||
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- | **Example: | ||
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- | "A sample order form with separate columns for the item name, price and quantity." | ||
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- | Remember to keep the description short and direct. A good guideline it to keep it around 140 words. See the [[public: | ||
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- | ==Create a description for your table:== | ||
- | * Right click on the table and choose '' | ||
- | * Under the Alt text tab, insert your description in the '' | ||
- | * Insert title into the '' | ||
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- | ===Captions=== | ||
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- | Captions are provided by the publisher, and are treated the same way as we would a caption for an image with one small difference--the caption goes above the table as opposed to below it. | ||
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- | ==Add a caption to your table:== | ||
- | * Select the entire table or right click near the edge of the chart, graph or table, and choose '' | ||
- | * In the Caption dialog box, type in a short description. | ||
- | * For tables, the caption should be **above** the table. | ||
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- | For more information on Captions in general go to [[public: | ||
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- | ====Table Headers==== | ||
- | Table cells should be marked as table headers or header rows when they serve as labels to help interpret the other cells in the table. Correctly identified headers provide metadata that the reader can call up as needed as they navigate the data points. | ||
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- | ===Identify a " | ||
- | * Click anywhere in the table. | ||
- | * Go to the Table Tools Design tab at the top of the page. Check the '' | ||
- | * Type (or retype) your column headings. | ||
- | * Press the Enter key. | ||
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- | ===Ensure '' | ||
- | This ensures the header row is repeated across pages. Do this even if the table does not go over multiple pages: | ||
- | * Place the cursor anywhere in the first row of the table. Right click and select Table Properties from the pop-up menu. | ||
- | * Select the Row tab in the Properties dialog box. | ||
- | * Check '' | ||
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- | < | ||
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- | ===Identify a " | ||
- | * Click anywhere in the table. | ||
- | * Go to the Table Tools Design tab at the top of the page. Check the '' | ||
- | * Type (or retype) your column headings. | ||
- | * Press the Enter key. | ||
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- | ===Apply '' | ||
- | This ensures the header row is repeated across pages. Do this even if the table does not go over multiple pages so the screen reader can identify the header row from the rest of the table: | ||
- | * Click anywhere in the table | ||
- | * Go to the Table Tools Layout tab at the top of the page | ||
- | * select the '' | ||
- | * Note: It the Header Row does not automatically repeat on each page, then do the next step. | ||
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- | ===Ensure '' | ||
- | * Place the cursor anywhere in the first row of the table. Right click and select Table Properties from the pop-up menu. | ||
- | * Select the Row tab in the Properties dialog box. | ||
- | * Check '' | ||
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- | ===Ensure '' | ||
- | * Do not use split or merged cells in a Table. Screenreaders can’t handle it. | ||
- | * In Table Properties, under the Row tab, ensure '' | ||
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- | ====Avoid blank cells==== | ||
- | * Do not use blank rows or columns in a table for formatting. Blank cells, rows, or columns could mislead someone using a screenreader into thinking that there is nothing more in the table. You can fix this by: | ||
- | * removing unnecessary blank cells, rows, or columns. | ||
- | * adding some text indicating the cell is intentionally blank, i.e. N/A, “No data” or a hyphen. | ||
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- | =====Further Help===== | ||
- | [[https:// | ||
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- | =====Other tips===== | ||
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- | **Formatting Tip** | ||
- | * Use Word tools to create desired format, i.e. borders, line spacing, and other cell styles. | ||
- | * You can add more spacing by going to Table properties > Table > Options > Set the Top, Bottom, Left and Right margins to add more spaces around the text | ||
- | * If you have multiple tables, you can create a Table style and apply this style to all new tables. | ||
- | * [[http:// | ||
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- | **How to Convert a Table to Normal Text** | ||
- | * Sometimes you will need to convert a table to normal text: | ||
- | * First you highlight the table | ||
- | * This will create the 'Table Tools' section in the ribbon menu | ||
- | * Select the ' | ||
- | * On this menu select the ' | ||
- | * This will open a pop up, you then choose the paragraph break option to separate the text and hit okay | ||
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- | **Tips for Fitting Large Tables Within Page Margins** | ||
- | * If the table is very large, or has a lot of information, | ||
- | * You can use landscape layout instead of portrait for the pages that the table falls on. In order to enable this, you must first put a section break before and after the table, then select the table (and accompanying headings and/or captions), and choose Landscape orientation. | ||
- | * If the table still does not fit within the margins, you can also change the size of the pages (i.e. from US Letter to US Legal) by selecting the table and accompanying info, and choosing a different page size. If you want to try this without switching to Landscape orientation, | ||
- | * If you have done both of these, and the table still does not fit, you can try decreasing the font size. | ||
- | * Still having issues? Time to ask for assistance! | ||
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- | ===== Q&A Archive ===== | ||
- | Q: Unsure if the tables were formatted correctly in Appendix A at the end of the book 101 ways to meeting angels by Karen Paolino. | ||
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- | From the Tables section of the wiki: "A caption or description should always be included to give context to a table" | ||
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- | I am interpreting the ' | ||
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- | A: I will fix the wording in the wiki, but every table should have Alt-Text. | ||
- | When it comes to not being able to access the Alt-Text in the table priorities, it looks like this is an issue with they way the document was saved. | ||
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- | I creates a short video to illustrate what I mean: https:// | ||
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- | Word is a finicky beast! | ||
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- | Q: Follow up question regarding the song title tables in Four Boys and a Guitar: When I'm making a separate table for each song, I have been putting the song title in the spot labeled " | ||
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- | A: Yes, adding the heading and the title in the alt-text priorities works. | ||
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- | Q: I have come to the appendixes at the end of this book and there is a very long and complex table in Appendix D (starts on page 195 of the PDF, titled Mills Brothers Discography--by song title) that I could use some direction on. It's going to take a lot of time and I just want to make sure I'm tackling it the best way before I start. The issue I'm having is the subheadings for each song title. Here's a screenshot of one way I thought of to deal with them. But I'm also wondering if it would be better to create a separate table for each song. What do you think? | ||
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- | A: In this case you should create separate tables for each song title. | ||
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- | Set the heading of the section as 'Mills Brothers Discography--By Song Title | ||
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- | Set each table tile as simply the song title. | ||
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- | Q: There is a table in "The Canadian Prairies" | ||
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- | A:You can combine it into the same table. If you follow the instructions on header rows in the wiki it will be fine: [[https:// | ||
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- | Q: I am editing a book that has very long tables that are images. | ||
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- | A: In this case you can break the sub-sections down into their own tables with each disorder its own table. | ||
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- | **Q: In Theomatics, instead of creating tables the author has used images. | ||
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- | A: Images of tables need to be presented as tables, just as images of text should be presented as text. You can see how to make accessible tables here: | ||
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- | **Q: Theomatics uses tables-A LOT-but it seems like they are not necessary. It appears that tables are used for formatting spacing, as opposed to actually creating a table. For example; the Chapter headings are in tables (which I remove.) But what should I do with the other ' | ||
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- | A: You've got that right - none of the tables in this book should be there (as far as I can tell). As you say, they' | ||
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- | WCAG 2.0 — H39: [[https:// | ||
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- | [[public: |