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Robyn23332114preu
Participating Frequently
September 29, 2023
Question

Table accessibility issues cells appear merged (shouldn't) and going over 2 pages

  • September 29, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 8177 views

Hi, 

I was hoping someone could help me with 2 issues i'm having with tables when doing accessibility checks. I've fixed most things, but there's 2/3 I can't seem to work out what is wrong.

 

1. I assume it's because a cell is running over 2 pages - is there anyway to fix it? See picture (In my example I've articfacted what would be the data cells as otherwise it was just say 'oh' repeatedly, but the issue was there before this).

2. I have 2 tables which appear to have merged 2 cells which shouldn't have (see 2 x pictures attached) note missing TH/TD boxes and also tag boxes are quite far over in one - will this be an issue? Can I amend this?

Thank you for any help!

    2 replies

    Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
    Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
    Legend
    September 29, 2023

    Hi @Robyn23332114preu,

     

    First, per the PDF/UA standards, no cell or row can be split across pages or columns. Essentially, each row must appear on one page. So that issue is causing some of the failures in the checker. Redesign the table so that no row (or cell) breaks across pages or columns.

     

    Second, merged cells should be reserved only for table headers. When they appear within the body of a table, it's very confusing for screen reader users to parse the table and checkers often return the regularity failure. Plus they require a lot of manual remediation after the PDF is made. It's difficult to see from your screen captures if this is one cause of the problem.

     

    However, when you do have merged header cells like what is shown in #2 and #3 captures, you must ensure that the internal span and scope attributes are set on all of your header cells. This process must be done in Acrobat's table editor because it's not done by either the Microsoft or Adobe export unilities (neither utility creates the complete code).

     

    With Acrobat's Table Editor...

    1. Right-click on each <TH> cell.
    2. Ensure that it's set as a table header.
    3. Scope is Column.
    4. Span is usually 1 column, but with the merged cell "Percentage," it spans 3 columns.

     

     

     

     

     

    There might still be errors with regularity for one of several reasons: outdated checker software, Word/InDesign didn't export the table correctly, Acrobat's Table Editor is a primitive tool.

     

    But test this with a real screen reader (aka, JAWS or NVDA) and listen to how it is voiced.

     

    |&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Bevi Chagnon &nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;Designer, Trainer, &amp; Technologist for Accessible Documents ||&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;PubCom |&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Classes &amp; Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs &amp; MS Office |
      R
      Robyn23332114preuAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      September 29, 2023

      Thank you so much for very helpful guidance to fix when there are merged cells. I had to scrape together how to fix it from different posts earlier - yours is fantastic and I will save it for when i forget in the future. I will also share with comms re the rows not going over - useful to know! Thank you!

       

      However, the issue with the merge cells isn't that they are merged cells and editing scope is needed, but that Adobe is reading 2 cells as 1 (so across 2 cells only one TH/TD is showing), this is more problematic in one table than another as it merges a column of headers with data so if i 'fix' it by doing the scope fix I assume it will read the table wrong on a screen reader (although read aloud is fine). 

      I'm looking for a way to 'split' a cells in table editor (there are borders so I don't know how one in each table has been missed), but it seems to have happened - and I just don't know how to fix it so adobe reads the 2 cells as 2 cells.

       

      Thank you for any further help you can give! 

      Bevi Chagnon @ PubCom
      Bevi Chagnon @ PubCom
      Participating Frequently
      September 29, 2023

      From your latest sample, it shows faulty construction in the source document.

      What software, version, and platform was used to create the source docment?

      And which method was used to export the PDF?

       

      R
      Robyn23332114preuAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      September 29, 2023

      Please note the accessibilty check it is flagging is "regularity"

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