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2. If you scroll down a marked-up table, the headers at the top of the table appear in the grey ribbon above the worksheet itself.
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Fixing merged cells and
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multiple header rows
Merged cells are inaccessible and should not be used. Also, all tables should only have one header row.
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- remove colour
- left justify title (making it heading 1) and the sub-title
- write a description sentence
- remove bold except for header row
3. If there are only 2 or 3 tables with merged parent headings, they can be divided into smaller tables.
Try and find workarounds, for example, 1.
just one heading row and no merged cells.
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Divide long tables with multiple sub-sections into lots of smaller tables
Before. A long table with sub headings on the left using merged cells, doubly inaccessible.
After. One fewer columns. Clearer layout. Easier for sighted people to get to the category they want, and much easier for a screen reader to navigate.
Notes vital to understanding a table should go above it
Many tables require explanatory notes. The rule is, if information is vital for understanding a table, for example spelling out abbreviations or explaining the presence of empty cells or of notes in some cells, then this should be explained above the table. The source of the data, if it is different for each worksheet, should go in a row above the table.
1. The worksheet doesn't have a title. There's an empty row. The table has two heading rows so is impossible to mark up as table. Important information is left to a footnote below the table. Colour is useful for sighted readers but is not of much value to the colour vision deficient or partially sighted.
2. the The worksheet now has a title in A1 in heading 1. Then a description of what is on this worksheet. Then the title of the table. And the important information is now pasted above the table
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3. To get rid of the merged cells at the top and reduce the column headers to one row, we can add the years to the 'child' column header rows. This will allow gives just one header row and so allows us to mark this up as a table.
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Possible the percentage symbol could be removed and explained in a description sentence above the table, to further reduce clutter. Maybe the sets of year columns could be divided by a thicker cell border for sighted readers.
Footnotes
Currently, many tables include footnotes using symbols and superscript and, most often of all, asterisks. This should all be avoided. Some screen readers do not read superscript or asterisks. The partially sighted will struggle ot make out tiny numbers or letters in superscript.
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In whatever format notes are indicated, an explanation should be given in the description text in the second or third row, for example: ‘This worksheet contains one table. Some cells refer to notes which can be found on the notes worksheet/at the end of the relevant row’.
Explaining symbols
Hannah has suggested a set of universal symbols to be adopted across all government.
1. Abbreviations should be explained above tables. You can use the = symbol, but it’s safer to spell it out thus: ‘The following abbreviations are used throughout the table: I refers to independent, S refers to standard…’ and so on.
2. Asterisk should always be avoided. Asterisk notes referring to columns should be either a) included in the column header or, if too long b) explained in a sentence above, eg: ‘In column 3 xxx’
Graphs in spreadsheets
Ideally, spreadsheets should not contain graphs or charts but be limited to tables of data.
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