Alt Text On Tables In Word
Microsoft Word 2010 now allows us to add alternative text (alt text) to our tables. This makes our documents more accessible to users of such assistive technology as screen readers, because alternative text helps them understand the content our tables. When you use a screen reader to view your document, or save the document to a file format such as HTML (web pages) or DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System), alternative text appears when you move the pointer over the table in most browsers.
To add some alt text to a table, select the table and notice that the Table Tools tab appears in the ribbon. Within that tab there is a Layout tab, so click that. Now click Table > Properties, and in the Table Properties window that appears, click Alt Text.
Here you can type in the alternative text for your table. Unless you have a complex chart or table, you will usually want to enter text in just the Description box. When you have complex content to describe, then filling in the Title field is useful so that reading the full description becomes unnecessary unless desired.
As a general rule, use the Title box for a brief summary. This box should only be filled in if you are entering a detailed or long explanation in the Description box.
For example, if your table contains exam scores for a class of students, your title could be “Table containing the exam scores of my class – June 2010″ and your description could be “Scores of 25 students in class 1b in their June 2010 history exam. Scores ranged from 48% to 95% with the average being 72%”.