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markschmidt_a
markschmidt_a
Participant
March 27, 2020
Question

Accessible PDF - problem tagging tables.

  • March 27, 2020
  • 1 reply
  • 1633 views

Looking for at bit of help, and hope this is the place to ask.
I´ve run into an issue with a document i´m to make accessible, for a client. It features a - at least for me - stupidly complex table.

I sorta have the basics down, in regards to defining headers and assigning data cells to those headers. However, with this particular table, i can't seem to actually get to assign ID's correctly as acrobat insists on "merging" cells and i´m at a loss as to how i get around this.As you might be able to gather, from the attatched screenshot, the entire second row is treated as one single "field", or "cell" and i can't figure out how to, well, seperate them, so i can actually assign them ID's. Same issue with row 3-5. I have the original Word doc and it doesn't appear to be an issue there, the cells are correctly split and merged. Hope someone can point me in, at least somewhat the right direction.

Thanks in advance.

 

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1 reply

Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
Legend
March 27, 2020

This is a bug when InDesign tables have merged columns or rows; Acrobat's Table Editor (what's shown in your screen cap) doesn't correctly recognize the matrix of rows and columns, which in turn messes up how assistive technologies can access and read the table. Affects Span and Scope on the header <TH> cells, too.

Sure wish Adobe's engineers would fix this *&^%$#@ bug.

 

The workaround: Correct the table structure in Acrobat Pro. We will have instructions posted to our website later today.

But in the meantime, try simplifying the table: this bug occurs when InDesign tables have complex header rows or columns.

 

For starters, take the table's title out of the table structure (the text that reads "fikeringspan K:20..."). Think of it this way: Any cell with a <TH> is repeated each time a screen reader enters an individual table data cell <TD>. Do users really need to hear the table's title repeated over and over for each and every data cell? No, they just need it once, right before they enter the <Table> structure itself. 

 

After correcting the title, re-export to PDF and see if the structure has improved in the PDF.

 

Will be back in touch with details...

 

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