Re: Okay to hide table caption?

Well….There is also the SUMMARY attribute which is hidden from sighted users but read aloud on a screen reader. That could be easier than using a CAPTION hidden with CSS.

http://accessibility.psu.edu/tableshtml/


OTOH…the WCAG 2.0 guideline is meant to make information clear to all users, even sighted users. There really should be some way identify what the table is, and a CAPTION is a mechanism that provides a label supported on all devices.

If it helps, a table caption doesn’t have to be on the top, but can be at the bottom, left or right. And you can use CSS to make it “fancy” including making it look like a rounded tab.
https://www.w3schools.com/tags/att_caption_align.asp


You do mention that context is given in the surrounding text, so that would give the information sighted users.  If it’s a low level heading (e.g. H3/H4/H5)  or perhaps a bold description embedded in a nearby paragraph that would probably work well.  WCAG 2.0 is meant to provide some flexibility in implementation.

I would caution that even for sighted users, I would recommend a nearby visually distinct description of a table. Many studies show that readers “scan” a web site so looking at a table, but then having to hunt for the label can be annoying.

That may or may not convince your client...

Hope this is useful.

Elizabeth


On Apr 24, 2019, at 1:28 PM, Nimisha Joshi <nimisha.joshi@northwestern.edu<mailto:nimisha.joshi@northwestern.edu>> wrote:

Hi all,

What are your thoughts on visually hiding table caption on a webpage but keep it available for the screen reader? The reason we are exploring this option is because some of our clients find table captions “visually unattractive.” In most cases, the surrounding content gives the user enough context to understand the table's data and I was wondering if hiding it for sighted users would be okay.

Thanks,
Nimisha

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Elizabeth J. Pyatt, Ph.D.
Accessibility IT Consultant
Teaching and Learning with Technology
Penn State University
ejp10@psu.edu<mailto:ejp10@psu.edu>, (814) 865-0805 or (814) 865-2030 (Main Office)

The 300 Building, 112
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accessibility.psu.edu<http://accessibility.psu.edu>