Data table with `role=presentation` Screen reader compatibility

ARIA HTML WCAG

Sep 11, 2022

Expected Result: causes problems in some screen readers

Actual Result: causes problems in 70 screen reader / browser combinations

For expected failures, the results show which AT combos the failures affect. Results are recorded from the user's viewpoint, so describe the user impact of authoring errors.

This test shows what happens when tabular data (a free/busy schedule) has table semantics removed by incorrect application of role=presentation.

WCAG Failure: F92

Code used for this test:


		<table role='presentation'>
		  <tbody>
			<tr>
			  <th><strong>Morning</strong></th>
			  <th><strong>Afternoon</strong></th>
			</tr>
			<tr>
			  <td>Free</td>
			  <td>Busy</td>
			</tr>
		  </tbody>
		</table>

Change History

Last updated: September 11, 2022

NVDA with Chrome Causes problems from NVDA 2018.4 to NVDA 2022.2
NVDA with IE Causes problems in NVDA 2019.2
NVDA with FF Causes problems from NVDA 2012.3 to NVDA 2022.2
JAWS with Chrome Causes problems from JAWS 2018.1811.2 to JAWS 2022.2207.25
JAWS with IE Causes problems from JAWS 13.0.852 to JAWS 2019.1912.1
JAWS with FF Causes problems from JAWS 13.0.852 to JAWS 2022.2207.25
VoiceOver macOS Causes problems from VoiceOver macOS 10.9 to VoiceOver macOS 12.5
VoiceOver iOS Causes problems from VoiceOver iOS 7.1 to VoiceOver iOS 15.6
WindowEyes with IE Worse - was OK in WindowEyes 8.4, but now causes problems in WindowEyes 9.2
Dolphin with IE OK in Dolphin SR 15.05
SaToGo with IE OK in SaToGo 3.4.96.0

Screen reader	Browser	Mode	Notes	What the user hears
NVDA 2022.2	Chrome 105	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
NVDA 2022.2	FF102	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
NVDA 2022.2	Edge 105	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
NVDA 2021.2	Chrome 94	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
NVDA 2021.2	FF91	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
NVDA 2021.2	Edge 94	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
NVDA 2020.2	Chrome 86	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
NVDA 2020.2	FF78	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
NVDA 2020.2	Edge 92	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
NVDA 2019.2	Chrome 79	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
NVDA 2019.2	FF68	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
NVDA 2019.2	IE11	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
NVDA 2018.4	Chrome 73	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
NVDA 2018.4	FF60	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
NVDA 2018.4	IE11	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
NVDA 2017.3	FF60	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
NVDA 2017.3	IE11	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
NVDA 2016.2	FF48	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
NVDA 2016.2	IE11	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
NVDA 2015.2	FF41	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
NVDA 2015.2	IE11	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
NVDA 2014.1	FF31	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
NVDA 2014.1	IE11	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
NVDA 2012.3	FF32	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
NVDA 2012.3	IE11	Reading	Presentation role ignored - treated as data table, but no headers read out.	Table with two rows, row one column one, morning. Column two afternoon. Row two, column one, free. Column two, busy.
JAWS 2022.2207.25	Chrome 105	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
JAWS 2022.2207.25	FF102	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
JAWS 2022.2207.25	Edge 105	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
JAWS 2021.2107.12	Chrome 94	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
JAWS 2021.2107.12	FF91	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
JAWS 2021.2107.12	Edge 94	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
JAWS 2020.2008.24	Chrome 86	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
JAWS 2020.2008.24	FF78	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
JAWS 2020.2008.24	Edge 92	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning, afternoon, free, busy.
JAWS 2019.1912.1	Chrome 79	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
JAWS 2019.1912.1	FF68	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
JAWS 2019.1912.1	IE11	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning, afternoon, free, busy.
JAWS 2018.1811.2	Chrome 73	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
JAWS 2018.1811.2	FF60	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
JAWS 2018.1811.2	IE11	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning, afternoon, free, busy.
JAWS 18.0.5038	FF52	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
JAWS 18.0.5038	IE11	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning, afternoon, free, busy.
JAWS 17.0.2619	FF48	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
JAWS 17.0.2619	IE11	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning, afternoon, free, busy.
JAWS 16.0.4350	FF41	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
JAWS 16.0.4350	IE11	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
JAWS 15.0.9023	FF31	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
JAWS 15.0.9023	IE11	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
JAWS 14.0.9002	FF31	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
JAWS 14.0.9002	IE11	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
JAWS 13.0.852	FF31	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
JAWS 13.0.852	IE11	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
WindowEyes 9.2	IE11	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
WindowEyes 8.4	IE11	Reading	Presentation role ignored - treated as data table	Table one start, two rows, two columns. Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
VoiceOver macOS 12.5	Safari 15.6	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
VoiceOver macOS 11.5	Safari 15.0	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
VoiceOver macOS 10.15	Safari 14.1	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
VoiceOver macOS 10.14	Safari 13.0	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
VoiceOver macOS 10.13	Safari 12.1	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
VoiceOver macOS 10.12	Safari 10.1.2	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
VoiceOver macOS 10.11	Safari 9.1.2	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
VoiceOver macOS 10.10	Safari 9.0.1	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
VoiceOver macOS 10.9	Safari 7.0.3	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
VoiceOver iOS 15.6	Safari iOS 15.6	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
VoiceOver iOS 14.7	Safari iOS 14.7	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
VoiceOver iOS 13.3	Safari iOS 13.3	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
VoiceOver iOS 12.4	Safari iOS 12.4	Reading	Announced as table, but no row/column positions or headers read.	Morning, table start. Afternoon. Free. Busy. Table end, end.
VoiceOver iOS 11.4	Safari iOS 11.4	Reading	Announced as table, but no row/column positions or headers read.	Morning, table start. Afternoon. Free. Busy. Table end, end.
VoiceOver iOS 10.3	Safari iOS 10.3	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy.
VoiceOver iOS 9.1	Safari iOS 9.1	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning, afternoon. Free, busy.
VoiceOver iOS 8.4	Safari iOS 8.4	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning, afternoon. Free, busy.
VoiceOver iOS 7.1	Safari iOS 7.1	Reading	Table treated as layout table - not announced as table, and no headers read.	Morning, afternoon. Free, busy.
Dolphin SR 15.05	IE11	Reading	Presentation role ignored - treated as data table	Table two rows, two columns, morning, column one, row one. Afternoon, column two, row one. Free, column one, row two. Busy, column two, row two.
SaToGo 3.4.96.0	IE11	Reading	Presentation role ignored - treated as data table	Entering table, morning. Afternoon. Free. Busy. Leaving table.

SortSite rules: AccWcag2-F92-1

Test notes

All tests were carried out with screen reader factory settings. JAWS in particular has a wide variety of settings controlling exactly what gets spoken.

Screen readers allow users to interact in different modes, and can produce very different results in each mode. The modes used in these tests are:

Reading Content read using the “read next” command in a screen reader
Tabbing Content read using the “tab” key in a screen reader
Heading Content read using the “next heading” key in a screen reader
Touch Content read when touching an area of screen on a mobile device

In the “What the user hears” column:

Commas represent short pauses in screen reader voicing
Full Stops represent places where voicing stops, and the “read next” or “tab” or “next heading” command is pressed again
Ellipsis … represent a long pause in voicing
(Brackets) represent voicing that requires a keystroke to hear

Data table with role=presentation Screen reader compatibility

Change History

Test notes

Data table with `role=presentation` Screen reader compatibility