HTML5 - 2017 right way to order <tbody> and <tfoot> elements? - html

everyone!
I've saw in many articles and courses that the <tfoot> in a table element should be placed before the <tbody> element. Right... But, when I do it this way, the validator (https://validator.w3.org) tell me it's wrong, and that I can't use the <tfoot> in this context. So I decided to put the <tfoot> after the <tbody> and the validator don't found any errors in my code.
So... What is the correct way to do it, anyway?
I also found that spec that seems to be contradicted to its own: https://www.w3.org/TR/html51/tabular-data.html#the-tfoot-element

The <tfoot> spec rules were changed in December 2015 to disallow <tfoot> before <tbody> due to the accessibility issues it was causing.
As far as the W3C spec goes, the place to look for the relevant requirement is actually in the part of the spec that states the rules for what is allowed in the <table> element, which says:
In this order: optionally a caption element, followed by zero or more colgroup elements, followed optionally by a thead element, followed by either zero or more tbody elements or one or more tr elements, followed optionally by a tfoot element, optionally intermixed with one or more script-supporting elements.
Notice that it says tfoot is allowed after tbody but no longer says it’s allowed before tbody.

A <table> element. The <tfoot> must appear after any <caption>, <colgroup>, <thead>, <tbody>, or <tr> element. Note that this is the requirement as of HTML5.
The element cannot be placed after any <tbody> and <tr> element. Note that this directly contradicts the above normative requirement from HTML5.
<table border="1" align="center">
<caption>A table</caption>
<thead>
<tr>
<th colspan="3">Invoice #123456789</th>
<th>14 January 2025
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">
<strong>Pay to:</strong><br> Acme Billing Co.<br> 123 Main St.<br> Cityville, NA 12345
</td>
<td colspan="2">
<strong>Customer:</strong><br> John Smith<br> 321 Willow Way<br> Southeast Northwestershire, MA 54321
</td>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<th>Name / Description</th>
<th>Qty.</th>
<th>#</th>
<th>Cost</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Paperclips</td>
<td>1000</td>
<td>0.01</td>
<td>10.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Staples (box)</td>
<td>100</td>
<td>1.00</td>
<td>100.00</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<th colspan="3">Subtotal</th>
<td> 110.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th colspan="2">Tax</th>
<td> 8% </td>
<td>8.80</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th colspan="3">Grand Total</th>
<td>$ 118.80</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
</table>

Related

Accessible Table with Sub Headings / Category Separation

EDIT: To the person who tagged this as having nothing to do with ADA. This question has everything to do with ADA. I have tons of websites with tables formatted like that which I am trying to figure out how to make them understandable to someone using a screen reader.
Hello I am trying to figure out a way to make a table which has subheadings / separator rows to announce the proper headings when being read by a screen reader.
The first table works as I would like, announcing the rowgroup's TH and then the column heading. However the second table doesn't announce as I was hoping. For example, Jill announces "Field Techs, Name, Jill" Instead of "Office, Name, Jill" as I had expected.
I've tried scope="col" and scope="colgroup" but neither helped. Is this even possible? or just a badly structured table?
Thank you for reading and any help/advice you may offer!
table thead, table th { background:#d3d3d3; }
table { margin-bottom:40px; }
<!-- This table's headings seem to work properly -->
<table width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4" >
<thead>
<tr>
<td> </td>
<th id="name_col" scope="col" width="50%">Name</th>
<th id="position_col" scope="col" width="50%">Position</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<th id="office_row" scope="rowgroup" rowspan="2">Office</th>
<td headers="office_row name_col">Jill</td>
<td headers="office_row position_col">Office Manager</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td headers="office_row name_col">Robert</td>
<td headers="office_row position_col">Project Manager</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th id="field_row" scope="rowgroup" rowspan="2">Field Techs</th>
<td headers="field_row name_col">Jason</td>
<td headers="field_row position_col">Tech</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td headers="field_row name_col">Mike</td>
<td headers="field_row position_col">Tech</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<!-- This table's headings don't announce correctly. Jill announces "Field Techs, Name, Jill"-->
<table width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4" >
<thead>
<tr>
<th id="name_col" scope="col" width="50%">Name</th>
<th id="position_col" scope="col" width="50%">Position</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th id="office_group" colspan="2">Office</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td headers="office_group name_col">Jill</td>
<td headers="office_group position_col">Office Manager</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td headers="office_group name_col">Robert</td>
<td headers="office_group position_col">Project Manager</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
<thead>
<tr>
<th id="field_group" colspan="2">Field Techs</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td headers="field_group name_col">Jason</td>
<td headers="field_group position_col">Tech</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td headers="field_group name_col">Mike</td>
<td headers="field_group position_col">Tech</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
table can only have zero or one thead element (see documentation).
Permitted contents : An optional caption element, followed by zero or more colgroup elements, followed by an optional thead element
By having multiple thead elements only the last one is considered by your browser and your screenreader. You can use ARIA attributes and roles to handle multiple separated heading lines (using for instance aria-labelledby attribute to specify the heading).
One example from WCAG:
ARIA9: Using aria-labelledby to concatenate a label from several text nodes
You are using both the scope method and header/id's method in one table, which will create problems. Also, as others have pointed out, you're using multiple <th> and <tbody> elements, which isn't good either.
I've prepared some code samples here on how to correctly code this table using both the scope method and header/id's method:
https://jsfiddle.net/oody1b8x/
It's worth noting that <th> and <tbody> are not accessibility-related elements, even though they appear to be. These are essentially only used when printing. It lets the printer know that the header rows can be repeated on the next page if the table requires pagination.
Also -- don't use ARIA for this purpose; it will only create more problems. The native HTML semantics are perfectly capable of communicating how this data is structured.

Screen reader pronouncing state/country codes and numbers

I have a table that contains location information. I wanted to hear how a screen reader would interpret my markup. Sure enough it read 'CA' as the letters C and A. It also did the same thing for the table cell with an age, it read '23' as 2 3. Is there a way to mark these items and others like that in a way that screen readers will read them as 'California' and 'twenty three' without actually spelling them out?
EDIT: Added the title attr alongside with the regular text. The screenreader reads: "Age, group, twenty three, 2 3"
I also tried adding an aria-hidden="true" to a span nested inside of the <td> but it completely skipped the td and the span and moved onto the next element.
Markup:
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<th scope="row">First Name</th>
<td>John</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Age</th>
<td title="Twenty Three">23</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">State</th>
<td tithe="California">CA</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
ARIA-hidden:
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Age</th>
<td title="Twenty Three"><span aria-hidden="true">23</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
yes, you can use a title attribute to make it easyer for people with screen readers
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<th scope="row">First Name</th>
<td>John</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Age</th>
<td title="twentythree">23</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">State</th>
<td title="California">CA</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
A screen reader will read the title text rather then the content, so you can add screen reader friendly text for any table cell

Proper HTML Table Structure?

Almost embarrassed to ask, because I have never had a need to use tables much before...
Now I have a project that will require massive organized tables, go figure.
Suppose I have a table like this:
<table border="1px" style="width:300px">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>First Name</th>
<th>Last Name</th>
<th>Age</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Jill</td>
<td>Smith</td>
<td>50</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Eve</td>
<td>Jackson</td>
<td>94</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>John</td>
<td>Doe</td>
<td>80</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
First of all, from what I have read, <thead> and <tbody> seem to be optional for grouping purposes, but is this basic set up correct?
It looks fine when displayed in a browser, but I wonder if my code actually structures elements correctly in the DOM? I.E. does the DOM correctly associate the <th>First Name</th> with the <td>'s that contain the first name data? I ask because I am going to need to rely on that to sort the tables later with javascript.
I apologize if this is really simple question. If there is a reference to a "proper table structure" article, i will accept that as well.
Your HTML markup is fine, except you should favor CSS classes rather than inline styles, and the border attribute is usually better as a style.
If you are ever curious if you have valid markup, you can use a validator tool to check. There is one available here, provided by W3C: http://validator.w3.org/
HTML is a presentational markup. There is no data association implicit in any given element -- that is to say, the td which you know contains the first name does not in any way associate itself with the heading which labels it visually. As far as HTML is concerned, you don't have data, just a bunch of words which it shapes and boxes and moves around on the screen.
This extends to javascript -- there is no association between the heading and table cells in DOM.
That said, sorting tables are a very common UI pattern, and you can find a large number of examples as well as existing plugins. I highly recommend that you consider an established plugin if you are going to use this for anything other than a learning experience. The plugin author has, presumably, already considered all the many ins and outs, gotchyas, and cross-browser considerations that you would have to take in to account if you tried to craft your own.
Documentation
MDN Tables - https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Guide/CSS/Getting_started/Tables
MDN <table> element - https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/table
MDN HTMLTableElement - https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/HTMLTableElement
Best html table structure and css concept :
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" class="table">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Header1</th>
<th>Header2</th>
<th>Header3</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<th>Footer1</th>
<th>Footer2</th>
<th>Footer3</th>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>data1</td>
<td>data2</td>
<td>data3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>data1</td>
<td>data2</td>
<td>data3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>data1</td>
<td>data2</td>
<td>data3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>data1</td>
<td>data2</td>
<td>data3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>data1</td>
<td>data2</td>
<td>data3</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
css code and structure
<style>
html, body{font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:12px;}
.table{border-collapse:collapse; width:100%}
.table thead th, .table tfoot th{text-align:center; background:#999; color:#FFFFFF;}
.table th, .table td{padding:5px; border:1px solid #ddd;}
.table tr:nth-child(even){background:#eee;}
</style>

HTML Tables - can I have an additional tbody before the thead?

I need add to some elements on top of a table in line with the columns of the said table.
This table contains a <thead> (which is required due to jquery.tablesorter plugin). I assumed that if I put another <tbody> on top of the <thead> I would be able to keep these elements in line with the rest of the columns, but both chrome and firefox render every <tbody> below the <thead>.
Example:
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>1</td><td>1</td><td>1</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>head</th><th>head</th><th>head</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>2</td><td>2</td><td>2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>3</td><td>3</td><td>3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>4</td><td>4</td><td>4</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Although I understand this, I still need to find a way to have these elements stay in line with specific columns.
You can use multiple rows in <thead> like this:-
<table>
<thead>
<tr> <td>1</td> <td>1</td> </tr>
<tr> <td>head</td> <td>head</td> </tr>
</thead>
</table>
I recommend that you use an id (#) marker to identify that part that you want the js to work off and have the js use that id.
With that, have the thead first and the tbody last.
The variations you are describing may work - in the browser you using now, on the OS you are ok - and may be compliant a certain version of the HTML spec- but putting things in an unusual order is (in my expereince) just the kind of thing to not work, or work the same, everywhere and to eventually be the cause of much frustration, especially as the site grows in complexity.
One solution is to use another table inside one tr, in your thead. Althought, this is a totally ugly solution.
You can also place a div above your table using CSS.
Correct table structure is:
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th></th>
<th></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<th></th>
<th></th>
</tr>
</tfoot>
</table>
<thead> will always be on the top and <tfoot> will always be at the bottom.
Using jQuery you can swap <thead> and <tbody> content by:
$(document).ready(function() {
$('#myTrigger').click(function() {
var top = $('thead').html();
var mid = $('tbody').html();
$('thead').html(mid);
$('tbody').html(top);
});
});

Are table headers only for the top row in html?

I always see the th tag only used in the first row of the table. Is there some specific reason why it can't be used to create 'left' headers along the leftmost column. Is this bad form, or is this ok.
Basically, a table with headings on the top row and the leftmost column, with the very top left square being empty.
e.g.
<table>
<tr>
<th><!--empty--></th>
<th>Top 1</th>
<th>Top 2</th></tr>
<tr>
<th>LeftHeader?</th>
<td>data1</td>
<td>data2</td></tr>
</table>
That's valid, however, when using a <thead> it has to be the first row. This is valid:
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<td>0,0</td><td>1,0</td><td>2,0</td>
</tr>
</thead>
<tr>
<th>0,1</th><th>1,1</th><th>2,1</th>
</tr>
</table>
But this is not:
<table>
<tr>
<td>0,0</td><td>1,0</td><td>2,0</td>
</tr>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>0,1</th><th>1,1</th><th>2,1</th>
</tr>
</thead>
</table>
It's invalid HTML and you can double check that with the w3C markup validation service though before you do you'll have to add a <!DOCTYPE> declaration and the rest of a valid HTML doc.