Accessible Lists and Tables

Lists are a useful format to organize information in Word documents. Bulleted lists are useful to group items and numbered lists organize instructions and other sequences of information. As lists visually indicate a specific meaning, lists must be created properly to be accessible and to ensure everyone understands the information in your document.

Tables present information in a grid which a sighted user can scan to understand the relationship between columns, rows, and data. Properly coded tables help assistive technology announce the column or row header as users move between cells. This ensures everyone can access and understand tables.

Who accessible lists and tables benefit

Lists

Creating lists using asterisks or dashes will not inform assistive technology that the content is part of a list. A manually created list may look like a list but does not function as a list. It is important that everyone is made aware of the presence of a list and its structure.

The following demonstrates screen reader software reading properly and improperly built lists.

Properly formatted lists organize information and make your content accessible.

• Use bullet lists to group items.
• A bullet list is best where the sequence is not important.

1. Use numbered lists for items where sequence is important.
2. Create a numbered list item by item to show order.

Tables

While sighted users can scan a table to understand the relationship between rows and cells, some users of assistive technology require those relationships to be indicated audibly. Consider the following demonstration of a screen reader reading a table without proper code followed by the same table with proper code.

Take note that in the table without proper code the screen reader could move from left to right and row to row to announce the cell contents. However, when deeper in the table it becomes unclear what the cell data refers to. In the properly coded table screen reader software announced the header labels such as brand, type, and colour and announced what column or row the cell is in. This helps users that cannot see the table to understand the information and relationships between data.

Ensure tables have a header row or first column. The use of merged or split cells should be avoided because it may not be clear which cell follows the merged or split cell. This could cause someone using assistive technology to miss out on or misinterpret table data.

How to ensure lists and tables are accessible

Lists

Create accessible lists using Word’s built-in list tools. On the Home tab in the Paragraph group, select Bullets, Numbering, or Multilevel list.

Use these buttons to start a new list or highlight existing content and select Bullets or Numbering to turn the text into a list.

Learn more about using lists in Word.

Define new bullets, numbers, and multilevel lists instead of manually creating “lists.”

Tables

Create tables using the Table tool on the Insert tab.

Select the number of cells on the grid or select Insert Table and set the number of columns, rows, and other options.

When inserting a table, Header Row should be toggled on by default. Verify that Header Row is checked on the Table Design tab.

Avoid the use of merged or split cells.

Do not use tables for alignment purposes. Tables are for relational data.

Double Check

Lists

Word’s Accessibility Assistant does not check lists for accessibility, so list accessibility must be verified manually.

How do you know if you have a list or a “list”? Press Enter after the last item. If another bullet or number automatically populates you have a properly built, accessible list.

However, if a bullet or number does not auto-populate when you press Enter, the list just a series of lines and symbols.

Tables

Word’s Check Accessibility tool flags Missing table header and Use of merged or split cells in tables.

Learn more about fixing table errors in Word.