Rule n° 242 - Cells in data tables are linked to their headers

Goal

• Allow technical aids to return the information contained in data tables in a comprehensible way, by informing users of the logical relationships between the table’s content and headers.

Solution technique

Use the HTML th element and its scope attribute to tag header cells and explain their scope (scope of col value for a column header, of row value for a row header).

For headers that only apply to part of a row or column, check systematically for the idattribute, for the th element and the headers attribute for the td elements with the appropriate values:

• Give each header (th element) an id attribute id attribute (for example, id="foo);
• Use the headers attribute in each cell (td element) to indicate the associated headers (for example, headers="foo" for each cell attached to the header having the attribute id="foo").
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To find out more:

Moyen de contrôle

In the generated code of data tables:

• Check the systematic use of the th element to tag row or column headers;
• For headers applying to the whole of a row or a column, check that the scope attribute with the appropriate value (row for a row or col for a column) is systematically included;
• For headers which only apply to part of a row or column, check that the idattribute for the th element and of the headers attribute for thetd elements are systematically included with the appropriate values:
• Each header (th) element must have an id attribute (for example, id="foo");
• The headers attribute must be used in each cell (tdelement) to indicate the associated headers (for example, headers="foo"for each cell attached to the header having the id="foo" attribute).