The <table> element is for data that one might find in a spreadsheet, consisting of rows and columns of cells. Browsers provide this mechanism to display table structures and to convey table data to assistive technologies. It's important to ensure that the editing process allows identifying row and column headers so that screen reader users can access the meaning of each data cell by understanding what row and column it appears in.

In WYSIWYG editors such as the one provided in Open Scholar, it's possible to create HTML tables using the table tool.... Read more about ✎ Technique: Building tables

Adding structure to web content makes it more readable and comprehensible to everyone and especially to people with a visual or cognitive impairment that makes reading on-screen content difficult.

The purpose of HTML is to give structure to otherwise seamless runs of text. HTML allows us to provide semantic meaning to text so that it's available to assistive technologies.... Read more about ✎ Technique: Structuring content

The most important part of any page is its content, which is made up of paragraph text and sometimes supplementary media like images or video. Headings are used to group and label sections of content, giving visual structure to the page and providing a means of navigation to screen-reader users.... Read more about ✎ Technique: Writing headings

Link text is the text you select for a link that describing what happens when a user activates it. So it needs to clearly and accurately convey the link's purpose. Commonly, link text is the name of the linked page or document. When a link leads to a document that's not a web page, such as a PDF or Word document, that should be clarified in the link text. Avoid overly terse, ambiguous link text, and avoid reusing the same link text within a page for links that lead to different destinations.

Good link...

The title of a web page is the page's accessible name, and it will be the first thing read aloud by a screen reader when it starts reading the page. It will also be used by search engines, and it labels the browser’s tab containing the page.

To be as helpful as possible, the title should briefly tell the user what the page is about and where they are within the site.... Read more about ✎ Technique: Writing web page titles

Avoid referring to a button, menu, or other item in the page only by its position on the page; instead, use additional information that describes the content.

Referring to a specific item in the page content by only its visual position prevents people who use screen readers from being able to make sense of this visual description. Another downside to referring to items by their position is that their position might change when the page is viewed at different screen sizes, such as on...

Lists are collections of related content. For example, a navigation bar is a list of links or a set of instructions may be an ordered (numbered) list. Clearly identifying a set of items as a list helps people understand that relationship. When you include a list in your page content, this relationship needs to be conveyed visually, and it also needs to be conveyed to people using screen readers.... Read more about ✎ Technique: Identifying lists of content

Headings are important orientation aids, and they help people quickly identify the content on your page. When headings are correctly identified, they also allow screen-reader users to quickly navigate from heading to heading using the screen reader's heading navigation functionality.

The best way to do this is to ensure that headings are identified in HTML. When using a web-content editor or a word-processing application, you can do this by making use of the heading options in the styles menu. ...

Some people understand complex information best when it's presented visually, such as as a chart or diagram, while others find that reading the information suits them better. For people who use screen readers, a good text equivalent of the information that’s presented graphically is essential for their understanding.

For simple graphics, providing a succinct, informative text alternative is usually fine. But for complex graphics, it's not enough to provide a screen reader user with only short alternative...

Consistency is one of the cornerstones of good usability. Although it is possible in advanced CMSs to create radically different page layouts according to content type, it's important that areas outside of the page’s content area remain consistent across the site for wayfinding purposes. This can be controlled through carefully designing and implementing page templates.... Read more about ✎ Technique: Consistent layout

Paragraphs of text are a fundamental core of web content, so it's important to display them in a fashion that is optimally readable to the majority of your audience without requiring them to change their display settings. For people who do need to customize display of text to make it easier to read, it's important to support this customization rather than forcing them to read the text the way you specify.

For the most part, this means applying typesetting best practices, which predate the web.

Some people with reading difficulties or visual impairments need to customize the display of text to make it easier to read. When text is presented as an image of text, that limits their ability to change the appearance of that text. So wherever possible, use text along with CSS to apply styling (such as color, typeface, or size).

If you use an online content editor to write content, the styling will happen automatically. If you feel that you need text that deviates from the style, formatting options...

People use different methods to find web content. Screen-reader users might prefer navigation regions, people with dyslexia might prefer the logic of a site map, and people with motor impairments might prefer to type in a search term using a search facility.

So it's important the search facility on your site is logically and conventionally placed and constructed for optimal accessibility.... Read more about ✎ Technique: Site search

It's important to provide consistent navigation regions to navigate between a site's pages and—where there is a lot content on each page—between sections of pages.

Clear, logical and consistent navigation tools reliably help people find their way to the content they need and recover quickly when they are in the wrong place. This helps everyone but particularly people with visual, cognitive, or motor impairments who might otherwise find it time-consuming to locate the information they need....

Some people with color deficit have trouble differentiating between specific colors, such as between red and green or red and black. Screen reader users do not access content visually, so they do not have access to color information.

Color is a powerful visual means of presenting or distinguishing information, but when you use color to identify or distinguish information, make sure that this information is still available to people who can't perceive color.