What ensures data table data is accessible to assistive technologies?

• A. All data cells are programmatically associated with relevant headers
• B. Data cells are only visually aligned
• C. Headers are optional
• D. Data must be left-aligned

Answer: (C)

Ensuring each data cell is programmatically linked to the relevant header provides the semantic information assistive technologies need to interpret a table. When header cells are marked up and data cells are connected to those headers (for example, using th elements with scope="col" for column headers or scope="row" for row headers, or by identifying headers and linking data via aria-labelledby), screen readers can announce the header context alongside each value. This lets users understand what the data represents in every cell, not just how the table looks.

Relying on visual alignment alone won’t communicate relationships to assistive technologies, so it doesn’t meet accessibility needs. Treating headers as optional also undermines interpretation, since without headers and proper associations, the table lacks meaningful context. Simple left alignment is a presentation detail that doesn’t affect how AT reads the table.

In short, the key practice is making sure data cells are connected to their headers so the table conveys full meaning to assistive technologies.