- Success Criterion 1.3.1
- Conformance level A
Responsive Table Layout That Strips Out Header Relationships
1.3.1 — Info and Relationships
Scenario
Setting
A video streaming service's show detail page
What’s wrong
Data tables flattened with role="presentation" (code that strips an element's meaning)/CSS display:block on responsive views, destroying header-cell relationships.
Example
<div class="heading">Shipping Address</div>Why it matters
Screen-reader, braille, and reading-tool users who depend on coded structure rather than visual layout.
How to test
Resize the browser to mobile width and inspect the (possibly CSS-flattened) table in DevTools: check header-cell relationships (th/scope or headers/id) survive the responsive layout.
How to fix
Keep table semantics in responsive views (or provide an equivalent accessible structure) so header–cell relationships survive.
<h2>Shipping Address</h2>A real heading element exposes the section structure to assistive tech; a styled div doesn't.
Outcome
On a video streaming service's show detail page, this barrier is gone for screen-reader, braille — they can finish what they came here to do.
Who is affected
Screen-reader, braille, and reading-tool users who depend on coded structure rather than visual layout.
Learn more
- Understanding Understanding document (opens in a new tab)
Related scenarios
- Text Styled to Look Like a Heading Instead of Coded as One
- Text Columns Faked With Spaces Instead of Real Table Markup
- Table Layout Faked With Spaces Instead of Real Table Code
- Clickable Div Acting as a Link Button With No Real Role
- Structural HTML Tags Used Purely for Visual Styling
- Layout-Only Table Wrongly Coded With Real Header Cells