Understanding Accessibility
by Vivienne Trulock
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Guideline 5. Create tables that transform gracefully.
Checkpoint 5.5 - Provide summaries for tables
How do I do it?
The <caption> tag is used to explain the purpose and content of a table. They are useful for those using screen readers, as the caption can provide enough information to allow them to choose whether the table is of interest to them or not.
<caption>Table of Glycemic Index Values for Everyday Foods</caption>
Summary attributes can also be used within the <table> tag to provide layout information of how the table is structured. Summary attributes belong inside the table tag itself.
How do I check that it meets the WCAG criteria?
Where data tables exist in the page, as verified in Checkpoint 5.1, the Edit > Find tool in Dreamweaver or Notepad can be used to search for the <caption> tag and the summary attribute using the search strings '<caption>' and 'summary="'. Where no <caption> tag or summary attribute exists, or where the explanation provided is insufficient, the page will be deemed to have failed.
