- Success Criterion 1.3.1
- Conformance level A
- W3C reference F34
Table Layout Faked With Spaces Instead of Real Table Code
1.3.1 — Info and Relationships
Scenario
Setting
A webinar platform's registration form
What’s wrong
Spaces/tabs are used to fake a table in plain text — there are no real rows, columns, or headers for a screen reader to navigate.
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
Copy the 'table' into a plain text editor: if it was built with spaces/tabs instead of table, thead, tr, td tags, structure is lost and a screen reader can't navigate cells.
How to fix
Use a real table element with header-cell code (th) headers instead of whitespace-aligned text.
<h2>Shipping Address</h2>A real heading element exposes the section structure to assistive tech; a styled div doesn't.
Outcome
On a webinar platform's registration form, this barrier is gone for screen-reader, braille — they get the same result as anyone else here.
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)
- Technique Related technique (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
- 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
- Tabular Data Placed Inside a Preformatted Text Block