Table Pattern

About This Pattern

Like an HTML table element, a WAI-ARIA table is a static tabular structure containing one or more rows that each contain one or more cells; it is not an interactive widget. Thus, its cells are not focusable or selectable. The grid pattern is used to make an interactive widget that has a tabular structure.

However, tables are often used to present a combination of information and interactive widgets. Since a table is not a widget, each widget contained in a table is a separate stop in the page tab sequence. If the number of widgets is large, replacing the table with a grid can dramatically reduce the length of the page tab sequence because a grid is a composite widget that can contain other widgets.

Note

As with other WAI-ARIA roles that have a native host language equivalent, authors are strongly encouraged to use a native HTML table element whenever possible. This is especially important with role table because it is a new feature of WAI-ARIA 1.1. It is thus advisable to test implementations thoroughly with each browser and assistive technology combination that could be used by the target audience.

Examples

Table Example: ARIA table made using HTML div and span elements.
Sortable Table Example: Basic HTML table that illustrates implementation of aria-sort in the headers of sortable columns.

Keyboard Interaction

Not applicable.

WAI-ARIA Roles, States, and Properties

The table container has role table.
Each row container has role row and is either a DOM descendant of or owned by the table element or an element with role rowgroup.
Each cell is either a DOM descendant of or owned by a row element and has one of the following roles:
- columnheader if the cell contains a title or header information for the column.
- rowheader if the cell contains title or header information for the row.
- cell if the cell does not contain column or row header information.
If there is an element in the user interface that serves as a label for the table, aria-labelledby is set on the table element with a value that refers to the labelling element. Otherwise, a label is specified for the table element using aria-label.
If the table has a caption or description, aria-describedby is set on the table element with a value referring to the element containing the description.
If the table contains sortable columns or rows, aria-sort is set to an appropriate value on the header cell element for the sorted column or row as described in the Grid and Table Properties Practice.
If there are conditions where some rows or columns are hidden or not present in the DOM, e.g., there are widgets on the page for hiding rows or columns, the following properties are applied as described in the Grid and Table Properties Practice.
- aria-colcount or aria-rowcount is set to the total number of columns or rows, respectively.
- aria-colindex or aria-rowindex is set to the position of a cell within a row or column, respectively.
If the table includes cells that span multiple rows or multiple columns, then aria-rowspan or aria-colspan is applied as described in the Grid and Table Properties Practice.

Note

If rows or cells are included in a table via aria-owns, they will be presented to assistive technologies after the DOM descendants of the table element unless the DOM descendants are also included in the aria-owns attribute.