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Accessible Publishing Knowledge Base

Tables

Summary

Identify table structures in the synchronized media format to improve their navigation during synchronized media playback.

Techniques

  • Structure tables, rows, and cells using seq elements. [[WCAG-1.3.1]]
  • Identify the type of seq element using the epub:type attribute. [[WCAG-1.3.1]]

Examples

Example 1 — A comparison of XHTML table markup to overlay table markup

<table>
   <tr>
	  <td>
		 <p>…</p>
		 <p>…</p>
	  </td>
	  <td>…</td>
	  <td>
		 <ul>
			<li>…</lt>
		 </ul>
	  </td>
   </tr>
</table>
<seq epub:type="table">
   <seq epub:type="table-row">
	  <seq epub:type="table-cell">
		 <par>…</par>
		 <par>…</par>
	  </seq>
	  <par epub:type="table-cell">…</par>
	  <seq epub:type="table-cell">
		 <seq epub:type="list">
			<par epub:type="list-item">…</par>
		 </seq>
	  </seq>
   </seq>
</seq>

Explanation

In the same way that XHTML tables provide markup structure that can be navigated by users using assistive technologies, so too must Media Overlay documents provide equivalent skippability and escapability functionality through markup to facilitate playback.

This structure can be layered into an overlay using seq elements to represent the corresponding rows and cells in the markup. The typical process for converting table markup to overlay markup follows:

  • A single seq element encloses the entire table, and includes an epub:type attribute specifying the property table.
  • Each row in the table is represented using a seq element with an epub:type attribute specifying the property table-row.
  • Complex table cells — those that contain two or more synchronization points — are identified using seq elements with an epub:type attribute specifying the property table-cell. If the cell contains a complex structure like a nested table or list, that structure must be marked up as appropriate to ensure escapability and skippability from it.
  • Simple table cells containing only a single synchronization point can be represented using par elements with an epub:type attribute specifying the property table-cell.

Applies To

EPUB 3 EPUB 2 Audiobooks
Yes No No

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