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Alert - Possible table caption

  • WAVE Category: Alert
  • WAVE Alert: Possible table caption

Page Content Status

  • WAVE Error guidance text
  • Example of a DOM Snippet Generated From WAVE Tool
  • Project Team Error guidance
    • Project Team Page Details
    • Project Team Issue and PR details
    • Project Team Solution
  • Credits/Authors

WAVE Guidance

WAVE Tool's Reference material on Possible table caption may not specifically address your problem. We provide it here for optional reading.

Click to see WAVE Tool Reference

This content added 2026-04-07. Check for updated guidance at: https://wave.webaim.org/api/docs?format=html#table_caption_possible

WAVE Category

Alerts

WAVE Error

Possible table caption

What It Means

Text appears to be a table caption, but is not a caption element.

Why It Matters

A table caption should be associated with a table using the <caption> element so it will be read by a screen reader with the table content.

What To Do

If the text is a description of the table, associate the text with the table using the <caption> element (<caption> should be the first element within the <table>).

The Algorithm... in English

A data table (has at least one table header) that does not already have a caption has: - A colspan attribute value of 3 or greater on the first cell of the table. - A <p> element immediately before the table that contains less than 50 characters or contains less than 100 characters and is bold and/or centered.

Standards and Guidelines

Example of a DOM Snippet Generated From WAVE Tool

[HTML snippet showing the problematic code structure that WAVE detected]

Project Team Error guidance

The following material covers how the Project Team has provided a solution to the Possible table caption WAVE Alert.

Project Page Details

  • Project Page name: [INSERT PAGE NAME or "ALL"]
  • Project Dev URL: [INSERT URL or "N/A"]
  • Requires sign in: [TRUE OR FALSE]
    • Required User Role: [INSERT ONE OF: Visitor, Logged in user, Admin, Security Admin]
    • Can access page directly from URL: [TRUE OR FALSE]
    • Accepts URL parameters: [TRUE OR FALSE]

Project Team Issue and PR details

  • Related GitHub Issue(s):
    • [INSERT ISSUE URL]
  • Related Pull Request(s):
    • [INSERT PR URL]
  • React Component(s)
    • [INSERT PATH: e.g. path/to/Component.jsx]

Project Team Solution

What is the specific problem that was occurring?

[INSERT CONTENT]

What is the proposed solution to this problem?

[INSERT CONTENT]

Step-By-Step Guide

Click to see step-by-step guide

[ADD DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS HERE]

Other Technical Details

Click to see other technical details

[INSERT OTHER DETAILS e.g. Prop References, Return Value ]

Code Snippet With Solution

Click to see code snippets

[INSERT PATH file/path/to/Snippet.jsx]

[Code example showing the fix/solution]

Why the Fix Works

[INSERT CONTENT]

Where this solution is applicable

  • [INSERT SCENARIO 1]
  • [INSERT SCENARIO 2]
  • [INSERT SCENARIO N]

Screenshots of WAVE Error

1. Descriptive Title for Screenshot Set 1

Description/text for image

[INSERT IMAGE HERE]

Credits/Authors

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