Tables
Screen reader compatibility
Last updated: January 11, 2020
Screen reader compatibility for HTML tables, showing how failures and techniques work in specific screen reader / browser combinations.
The results include two types of test:
- Expected to work – these tests show support when accessibility features are used correctly
- Expected to fail – these tests show what happens when accessibility features are used incorrectly (marked with )
Note: Screen readers attempt to detect layout tables using heuristics, which vary widely between screen readers.
When a layout table is detected, a screen reader linearizes the cells into a series of paragraphs,
which prevents the table data being understood as a grid. This causes serious problems when a data table is wrongly identified
as a layout table. For example, consider trying to understand the Periodic Table of the Elements as a long series of element names
without the columns.
Reliability by user agent
The solid area in the graph shows percentage of tests that pass
in all tested interaction modes. The cross hatched area shows
partial passes that only work in some interaction modes.
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