Data Tables
Use CAPTION
and SUMMARY
to describe data tables
In addition to headings, HTML provides two other ways to describe tabular information: CAPTION and SUMMARY
. A table caption is a short title that describes the subject of the table. Captions display with the table they describe and can be formatted using CSS. A summary is a nondisplaying attribute of the TABLE
tag that summarizes what is described in the table. Since SUMMARY
does not display, its practical purpose is to provide nonvisual users with a brief description of the subject and format of a data table. When both SUMMARY
and CAPTION
are present, screen reader users can orient themselves prior to working with a data table.