Tables are often a good way of designing your page layout but there are some accessibility issues that accompany their use. The first issue surrounds the use of screen readers that persons with severe dyslexia or visual disabilities use. Screen readers often have a tough time reading tables or other multicolumn text found in word processing and Web documents. For instance, instead of reading down each column individually, the screen reader will often read across both columns. This may result in making you text inaccessible to your students in these populations.

Another issue that often surfaces with Web pages that use tables is the text readability when font size is raised in the browser preferences. Students with low vision will often raise the font size in their browser to increase the readability of the on-screen text. However, when text in tables is encountered, words in table cells often spill over into the next cells and overlap words and images present there, thereby decreasing text readability.

Examples:

• Unfriendly Table Design
• Unfriendly Table Design, as viewed in Lynx
• Friendlier Table Design
• Friendlier Table Design, as viewed in Lynx

Try to raise the font size in your browser preferences (In Netscape 3.0, this is found under "Options --> General Preferences --> Choose Font") for both the unfriendly and the friendlier table design examples. You will notice that the text does not overlap on either page but neither layout reads extremely well. This would be an example of when you should seriously consider providing an alternative page without tables. Link to it from a prominent place on the page.

Whenever you decide to use frames to organize your page layout, be sure and test your page by viewing it with an increased font size (28 to 36) and in Lynx. Consider whether or not your students could understand the text if they were using a screen reader that read across the page. If your page doesn't make much sense, try to reorganize it. If you cannot, be sure to include a link to a text-only page without tables.