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Structural Element - Table header cell

  • WAVE Category: Structural Element
  • WAVE ACCESSIBILITY PATTERN: Table header cell

Page Content Status

  • WAVE Tool Reference text
  • Example of a DOM Snippet Generated From WAVE Tool
  • Screenshots of Accessibility Pattern in Use
  • Credits/Authors

WAVE Tool Reference

Click to see WAVE Tool Reference

This content added 2026-04-27. Check for updated guidance at: https://wave.webaim.org/api/docs?format=html#th

WAVE Category

Structural Elements

WAVE Error

Table header cell

What It Means

A table header cell (<th>) is present.

Why It Matters

Table headers describe the content of their respective row or column. They can be identified by screen readers when data cells are encountered.

What To Do

Ensure the cell is a table header, otherwise change it to a data cell (<td>). For complex tables (particularly when there are spanned cells), the relationship between header and data cells may need to be defined using scope (e.g., <th scope="col"> or <th scope="row">) or headers and id attributes.

The Algorithm... in English

A <th> element is present that does not have a scope attribute value of "row" or "col".

Standards and Guidelines

Example of a DOM Snippet Generated From WAVE Tool

[HTML snippet showing the code structure that WAVE detected]

Screenshots of Accessibility Pattern in Use

1. Descriptive Title for Screenshot Set 1

Description/text for image

[INSERT IMAGE HERE]

Credits/Authors

  • @MissBrandyLea
  • [INCLUDE Contributor 2]
  • [INCLUDE Contributor N]