Word 2010: How to Make Accessible Tables The Good Tables and the Bad Tables can be great for presenting data, but we need to avoid using tables simply to format other content. With earlier word processors, it was common to create entire document layouts with tables. But now we know that using tables for layout—for example, just to line things up neatly—makes it nearly impossible for people who use assistive technologies to access our information. With the techniques described in our other Office 2010 modules, such as applying structure by using styles and using features like the columns tool, we format our documents nicely and make them accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities. To create accessible tables for the presentation of data, we need to keep them simple and follow a few simple procedures. Setting the Let’s say you have some data to present and decide to use a table. Where do you begin? Before you insert your table, it’s a good idea to know how many columns and rows you need. Remember to allow a row for the column headers. The width of your columns should also be given some consideration, so that the table does not exceed the width of the page. For some tables you may need to change the page orientation to Landscape to give yourself more room horizontally. Mind Your Manners Things You Should Do Here’s what you should do when making your accessible Create your table with the Insert Table tool in the Productivity or Accessibility Ribbon. Now you will do four things: give your table a title, identify the header row, restrict the table to the page width, and bookmark the table. Give your table a title using the Caption tool. Make sure the label field indicates that this is a caption for a table.
Word 2010: How to Make Accessible Tables The Good Tables and the Bad Tables can be great for presenting data, but we need to avoid using tables simply to format other content. With earlier word processors, it was common to create entire document layouts with tables. But now we know that using tables for layout—for example, just to line things up neatly—makes it nearly impossible for people who use assistive technologies to access our information. With the techniques described in our other Office 2010 modules, such as applying structure by using styles and using features like the columns tool, we format our documents nicely and make them accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities. To create accessible tables for the presentation of data, we need to keep them simple and follow a few simple procedures. Setting the Let’s say you have some data to present and decide to use a table. Where do you begin? Before you insert your table, it’s a good idea to know how many columns and rows you need. Remember to allow a row for the column headers. The width of your columns should also be given some consideration, so that the table does not exceed the width of the page. For some tables you may need to change the page orientation to Landscape to give yourself more room horizontally. Mind Your Manners Things You Should Do Here’s what you should do when making your accessible Create your table with the Insert Table tool in the Productivity or Accessibility Ribbon. Now you will do four things: give your table a title, identify the header row, restrict the table to the page width, and bookmark the table. Give your table a title using the Caption tool. Make sure the label field indicates that this is a caption for a table.
11-Tables.docx