Dreamweaver table accessibility

[SS Day]

I have some questions about making tables accessible in Dreamweaver. I would prefer not to have to go into the HTML code to make these changes. My questions are: 

1) How do you add a table caption to a table that has already been created? I can only see how to do this when the table is being created. Is there a way to go in after the table has been created and add a table caption?

2) How do you identify the header rows in a table to meet accessibility guidelines? 

[Nancy OShea]

Tables are not accessible. Period. 

Tables have one purpose: displaying tabular data like spreadsheets or charts. And even then, they can pose some usability issues for people with mobile devices or assisting technologies like screen readers.

Why do you think you need tables? 

If we understand why you're using old-timey tables, maybe we can offer you other, more accessible solutions to use instead.

[Ben M]

I have some questions about making tables accessible in Dreamweaver. I would prefer not to have to go into the HTML code to make these changes. My questions are: 

1) How do you add a table caption to a table that has already been created? I can only see how to do this when the table is being created. Is there a way to go in after the table has been created and add a table caption?

2) How do you identify the header rows in a table to meet accessibility guidelines? 

By @SS Day

Unfortunately once the table is created those options do not appear in the properties window so you would have to add the caption and modify the header rows via the code editor. And given that DW is in minimal maintenance mode, it will be unlikely that we will see something to correct this. Based on your comfort level with code, I would say that you may want to consider converting your site to a CMS whether self-hosted like Wordpress that may require some code or administration, or hosted by companies like Wix/Webflow/etc that may offer you the WYSIWYG type of editor you may be more comfortable with.

[L e n a]

The property inspector does not allow this operation, if you do not want to enter the code, which you will nevertheless have to do to enter the value of the content of the CAPTION tag, you can by selecting the table, from the DOM palette (Ctrl F7) click on the Plus located to the left of the TABLE tag and insert a child that you will name CAPTION.

I'm not sure I understand your second question, but if you already use TH tags on the TR row containing the header, row identified by THEAD, and if you add a SCOPE attribute with a value of COL (if your table presents data in columns of course)... you already make the task of screen readers much easier.

<table>
    <thead>
        <tr>
            <th scope="col">Column 1</th>
            <th scope="col">Column 2</th>
            <th scope="col">Column 3</th>
        </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
        <tr>
            <td>Data 1</td>
            <td>Data 2</td>
            <td>Data 3</td>
        </tr>
        <!-- Other data rows -->
    </tbody>
</table>

This time, DW user interface can helps you. First, select the first row in the display view, you'll see a black arrow on the left of the row when hovering the first cell. Select it. 

Then, from the properties inspector, you'll find the way to change TD cells to TH cells. You can see the check box in the image below called in french "En-tête"