Table scope attributes are used incorrectly

Automated check scope-attr-valid, run with axe-core

WCAG

Best practice: a recommendation, not a WCAG success criterion

Severity

Moderate: a degraded experience

Typical effort

Quick win, under 1 hour

Category

Content

Who this affects

Screen reader users reading data tables.

Why it matters

An invalid scope value, or scope on a data cell, breaks the link between headers and data.

How to fix it

Use scope only on <th>, with the values col, row, colgroup or rowgroup.

Related checks: Content

• Meters have no accessible name
• Progress bars have no accessible name
• Tooltips have no accessible name
• Table header cells are empty
• Images have no text alternative
• Image alt text duplicates nearby visible text
• Embedded objects have no text alternative
• Elements with role="img" have no text alternative

All checks