Re: Responsive tables and accessibility

Jonathon wrote:

“My question about SC 1.3.1 was that the table is a 2d structure with explicit rows and headers and when you keep that structure but change the visual appearance then the semantic 2d structure no longer matches the 1D structure displayed in the mobile view.    Screen reader users for example would use standard commands to navigate across a table horizontally yet the content is actually displayed vertically.“



Ah, I didn’t tackle the screenreader usage, thanks. Obviously this only affects screenreaders on small screen devices (or on desktop if their window is small, which I have seen as it isn’t something that historically affected usage with a screenreader).



In the smaller screen breakpoints, it has lost its “table-ness”, but you should get the structure information. So instead of the screenreader announcing column headings, they are actually part of the content.



In the same way that someone looking at it on a small screen would have to scroll a bit more, a screen reader user on a small screen would have to read a bit more to go vertically. However, given that screenreaders on small screens can be a bit funny with horizontal scrolling (e.g. when using the 2D touch to explore when areas are off to the side), I think it is a more robust approach overall.



Cheers,



-Alastair