How should tables used for layout be treated?

• A. They do not use data table structure elements
• B. They must use th elements for all cells
• C. They must have a caption
• D. They must be visually hidden

Answer: (A)

Tables are meant for presenting tabular data, not for page layout. When a table is used solely for layout, it shouldn’t carry the semantic structure of a data table. That means avoiding the data-table elements that signal headers and body sections, such as thead, tbody, tfoot, and header cells (th). Instead, keep the markup simple and rely on CSS for positioning and styling. This helps screen readers and other assistive tech understand the content correctly and avoids implying there is real tabular data where there isn’t.

The other options aren’t necessary or accurate: a caption is optional and not required for layout tables, using th for every cell would incorrectly indicate header semantics, and forcing the table to be visually hidden defeats the purpose of using it for layout.