Making Tables Accessible in FXL

[rsosolen]

I am researching how to create accessible tables in FXL layout, and the only options I can come up with are to create the table directly in the HTML with the correct markup (as already described on the Knowledge Base,) or use Alt-text (with complex description depending on the table.) Descriptions could follow recommendations for summaries starting with describing the header and rows and then breaking down the data in reading order. If the description was too long for Alt-text we could use a link to go to another location of the book with the full description or HTML table, or we could put the description in a hidden aside tag below the table and make note of the longer description in the Alt-text. Would this work for fixed layout?

There was another post here about complex image descriptions that recommended tiling for complex images, but to me that seems too much for tables and would break up the data and make it harder to follow.

Thoughts?

[mattgarrish]

You can provide an extended description for a table using either aria-describedby or aria-details. If you're going to use an image of the table, I wouldn't recommend trying to use the alt text to describe it. It's far too limited.

The advantage of aria-details over aria-describedby is that it allows users access to the markup of the linked description (which could be the table markup if you put it, for example, inside a details element to collapse it). The current drawback, however, is that there isn't great support yet for the attribute. And expanding details element within a fixed layout page is also likely to wreak a bit of havoc when users click on it (unless you find a way to reliably position it offscreen, but then that limits who can access it).

The aria-describedby attribute's big drawback is that it turns the description into one long text string that users have to listen to. There's no way to navigate the columns and rows or have headers read out, so it's likely going to be very difficult for users to make sense of except for very simple and very small tables.

Linking out to the table in a reflowable document is a good option. If you're using an image of the table, you could put the link on the image to let users click to open it.

The EPUB working group currently has a task force looking at techniques for making fixed layouts more accessible right now, so I expect there will be more discussion of this in the near future.

[rsosolen]

Thanks Matt!

I am in the working group, so this is helpful information. I was curious about how well the Aria roles worked for tables, and I thank you for the information!