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Alternative-Text in indesign in Tables

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
January 5, 2022
2 replies
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Hi Experts,

Is there any option to add alternative text for tabes as we do for figures in InDesign in order to read the text which is accessible in PDF? Currently we are adding it in PDF manually.

Regards,

Natraj.

How to

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Correct answer Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com

@Natu2103, here's guidance about using Alt-text from the PDF Association's Syntax Guide https://www.pdfa.org/resource/tagged-pdf-best-practice-guide-syntax/ :

5.5 Commonly-used properties of content

Alt-Text: (alternate description) Provides descriptive information for content with a substantial non-textual aspect.

Tables are not non-textual, even if they have graphics in their data cells <TD>, which you would then put Alt-text on the graphics' <Figure> tags, not on the <Table> tag.

And the US HHS guidance for accessible PDFs does not require Alt-text on tables. See https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/os-a11y-pdf-reference.pdf

Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.comCorrect answer

Legend

@Natu2103, here's guidance about using Alt-text from the PDF Association's Syntax Guide https://www.pdfa.org/resource/tagged-pdf-best-practice-guide-syntax/ :

5.5 Commonly-used properties of content

Alt-Text: (alternate description) Provides descriptive information for content with a substantial non-textual aspect.

Tables are not non-textual, even if they have graphics in their data cells <TD>, which you would then put Alt-text on the graphics' <Figure> tags, not on the <Table> tag.

And the US HHS guidance for accessible PDFs does not require Alt-text on tables. See https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/os-a11y-pdf-reference.pdf

|    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |

J

Jenn BennGen

Participant

Unfortunately this information doesn't help publishers in the US who are following accessiblity standards set by WCAB. The requirement is that we apply alt text to both images AND tables, regardless of other standardizing institutions. These standards are being set by universities, required by grants, and placed into legal contracts we have to follow. Since many of us are using InDesign to design books, we're struggling with the alt text issue with tables, knowing we can't insert alt text into the program and have to do it after the fact in the PDF.

Frans v.d. Geest

Community Expert

There is no 'Alt Text' for tables, that would would mean that, instead of the table data an Alternative Text would be read instead of the table date, it is in the meaning itself: 'Alt Text'. There can be a summary however. Go into Acrobat, Open the Reading order pane, find the table in the Tags tree, select it with the Reading order pane open (the hand tool) then right click on that table, choose Edit Table Summary and enter the summary. As it is not required (yet) under WCAG (508) there is, yet, no way to do so in InDesign.

Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com

Legend

No, there isn't.

And Alt-text on tables is not required, doesn't add any assistance to those using screen readers, and isn't recognized by any assistive technologies we've tested. What would the Alt-text state — this is a table with 6 columns and 20 rows? They already know that from their assistive technology (AT).

It was an idea from 15 years ago that is now being deprecated by Microsoft and others. Good intentions, but doesn't work in the end.

So don't waste your time on Alt-text on Tables. Instead, make your tables accessible with these techniques:

Have a good, logical, structure of rows and columns.
<TH> table header tags for every column. Nice to put them on row headers, too, but not required by the standards at this time.
Table <Caption> (aka, prefatory text) can be very helpful for complex or long tables. Place it before the <Table> tag so that all users, whether they use an AT or not, can read your guidance before they get knee-deep into the table itself.
Table summaries are no longer required, mainly because they are buried inside the <Table> tag and aren't usually visible to those who don't use a screen reader. Better to use a caption than a summary.

Make a better table and put a visible caption before it. That greatly improves accessibility, not Alt-text.

|    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |

Frans v.d. Geest

Community Expert

Table summaries are no longer required, mainly because they are buried inside the <Table> tag and aren't usually visible to those who don't use a screen reader. Better to use a caption than a summary.

Problem here is that checkers like PAC3/PAC2021, Axes PDF or Commonlook will stil flag a missing Table summary...

Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com

Legend

Problem here is that checkers like PAC3/PAC2021, Axes PDF or Commonlook will stil flag a missing Table summary...
By @Frans v.d. Geest

And that's one of the problems when you purchase or use a corporate service/software for accessibility. You get THEIR version of accessibility that may or may not jive with either the standards or with the needs of end-users. And they may not have updated their testing standards or the tests themselves, either.

There is only one entity that sets the PDF accessibility standards: The ISO (International Standards Organization). The ISO has designated the PDF Association (www.pdfa.org) as the manager/developer of the standard.

Everyone else, including my own firm, is merely interpreting the standards. Sometimes companies put a slant on their tests which prompt you to use their other products to correct the problems.

The most unbiased guidance on PDF accessibility:

Tagged PDF Best Practices Guide: Syntax (aka, the Syntax guide).
Free from PDF Association: https://www.pdfa.org/resource/tagged-pdf-best-practice-guide-syntax/
Written by the international accessibility experts who wrote the PDF/UA standards.
US Dept. of Health and Human Services guides to document accessibility.
Free from https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/os-a11y-pdf-reference.pdf and https://www.hhs.gov/web/section-508/accessibility-checklists/index.html
Developed by the US government's leading agency for accessibile ICT.

Although it wasn't in the standard to require summaries on tables, the industry started leaning toward them about 15 years ago. We now know that they aren't the helpful utility that was intended so most testing tools should give you the option to remove table summaries from the test. Adobe Acrobat's accessibility checker does that (FYI, the Acrobat checker was improved last year, as well as its Preflight for PDF/UA-1.)

Finally, quoting a small section from the PDF Association's Syntax Guide (my emphasis):

5.4.2 Summary attribute
It is recommended that use of this attribute be restricted to cases where visual information about the table would not be characteristically available to assistive technology.

Where auxiliary information or guidance would be useful to any user it is recommended that such be provided in text, and not hidden in a Summary attribute which would only be available to those using certain AT.

Providing a Summary is not precluded for specific target audiences, but it is recommended that the practice be limited to such cases.

If your checking tools/services don't let you opt-out of checking for table summaries, then you have to wonder what guidance they used to create their tools. And did they ask end users — people with disabilities who use A T — what they need?

|    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |

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