Creating Tables

  • Tables can be problematic for accessibility and mobile viewing. Use tables to display data, rather than as a means of page layout. Use page templates and blocks for layouts. Selecting table or cell widths can result in poor mobile display.

Create a table

 
  • Select Table tool from toolbar, highlight the blocks to define the table.  
    View of table tools
  • To set cell alignment, highlight the cells you wish to align.  Select Table tool > Cell > Cell Properties. Define properties.


  • Type content into cells.  General editor tools, such as bold, italic, styles, etc. can also be used in the tables.

  • Table options include: imagedkfvy.png
  • From left to right: 
    • Table
    • Row Properties
    • Cell Properties
    • Insert row before
    • Insert row after
    • Delete row
    • Insert column before
    • Insert column after
    • Delete column 
    • Split cell
    • Merge cells 

Accessibility

 

Best practices for web tables

  • Use tables to display data, rather than as a means of page layout. Use page templates for layout.
  • Display simple tables, minimizing the use of merged cells.
  • When creating tables, avoid spanning cells across multiple rows or columns. Complex tables are not fully supported by all screen readers, so the information in these tables could become lost during translation.
  • Use the table heading tag to improve accessibility
  • Visually style heading rows to help distinguish headings from data cells. For example, use boldface text and a shaded background.

Table tags

  • In order to ensure your content is accessible, all tables with header rows and/or header columns will need to be set up with the appropriate structure so screen readers can understand how to read the information.
 

First, set the top row as the header row by following these steps:

  1. Click into the first cell in the top header row and then click Table > Row > Row Properties in the toolbar.
  2. Set the Row Type to “Header.”
  3. Click Ok.

Set the Row Type as Header

Next, you will need to assign the header cell type to each cell in the header row:

  1. Highlight all of the cells in the top header row and click Table > Cell Properties in the toolbar.
  2. Set the Cell Type to “Header Cell.”
  3. Click Ok.

Set the Cell Type to Header Cell

 

 

 

Tables