Accessibility Statement: If you use tables

View an accessible page using tables
View an inaccessible page using tables

1. If you use tables for layout, be sure that reading the material left to right, row by row makes sense. Screen readers can't decipher the meaning behind a particular layout. Though white space separates columns of text to viewers, a screen reader reads the first line of each column followed by the second line of each column, without regard for the carefully structured layout.
    
2. Because screen readers read left to right, one line at a time, complex table structures can make a page very difficult for a screen reader to read. Consider providing a text link to a table summary or description of the table's contents and purpose. The LONGDESC attribute, part of HTML 4.0, allows you to link to a longer description.
    
3. Table markup tags, such as the <TH> header tag, are often used for layout. Even though a designer may use it to center one item in a single cell, the <TH> tag is interpreted as a column heading by a screen reader, and will be audibly attached to other items in the column.
    
4. If the table contains data in rows and columns as in a spreadsheet, associate header information with the "headers" attribute. The "headers" attribute specifies a list of header cells (row and column labels) associated with the current data cell. This requires each header cell to have an "id".
    
5. Check accessibility by viewing your page in multiple browsers and platforms, then verify it with tools like CAST's on-line BOBBY verification tool.

Read the relevant W3C guideline --  5.1  5.2
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Adapted with permission from web accessibility pages at Penn State