Here we are in Part 3 and we’re going to go deep into what happens when we throw data tables into email clients! I was surprised – but probably shouldn’t be – about what I found.
Data tables in email – Part 3


Here we are in Part 3 and we’re going to go deep into what happens when we throw data tables into email clients! I was surprised – but probably shouldn’t be – about what I found.

This week I’m digging deep into the details of what we need to do with our data tables to ensure they work for assistive tech users – we’re starting with testing and then we’ll talk layout/design differences.

Welcome to my two part series on data tables in emails – aka – when not to use role=”presentation”! This week, we’re talking intro to the main structural elements needed in data tables, where data tables show up in emails, and some basic functional issues we run across in our email marketing efforts.

It can be really confusing when you hear different solutions from different sources in our industry. We always want it to be super simple, but at the end of the day there’s a lot of nuance to email specifically, and then there’s also a lot of nuance within accessibility, and that can be hard to sort out.

Structural content is the bones of your html file and are already described by Assistive technologies so you don’t need to label them.

Let’s talk about dynamic images – oh yea! Everyone loves them, no one wants to think about alt text. Le sigh.

In part 3 we’re getting into the very granular details of how we can’t make interactive content accessible and why we’re so limited in email.

This week we’re getting into the specific experiences that interactive elements create for assistive technology users and some of the ways we can get around them.

I have dug into this topic and picked apart numerous examples of interactive content and it just can’t happen and I wanted to break this apart so that you can either do your own digging or review purported solutions for yourself.

Color contrast is at once one of the easiest accessibility criteria to meet and one of the most overlooked.