Communication Design Quarterly Mar 2025

Designing Accessible Tables: When Technical Communication Competencies Come into Conflict

Meredith A. Johnson ; Lauren E. Cagle

Abstract

Tables, one of the most familiar forms of data visualization, are often put to use as a popular workaround for laying out pages in word processing programs. This article illustrates examples of friction, compatibility , and congruence between accepted guidance for designing effective tables in Technical and Professional Communication (TPC) and widely adopted accessibility standards outlined by the largest international software vendors and non-profit organizations. While acknowledging critiques in critical disability studies and in TPC of standards-based approaches to accessibility, we argue that adherence to standards offers a starting point for redressing the inaccessibility created by some TPC pedagogical practices. Navigating these departures and overlaps is important because designing effective data visualizations, laying out pages, and creating accessible documents are core competencies in technical communication that instantiate deeply held professional and disciplinary commitments to creating usable and ethical documents.

Journal
Communication Design Quarterly
Published
2025-03-01
DOI
10.1145/3718959.3718960
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Topics
writing across the curriculum multimodality technical communication professional writing disability studies

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

Cites in this index (10)

  1. Shelton et al. (2023)
    Historicizing Power and Legitimacy After the Social Justice Turn: Resisting Nar…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Bartolotta (2019)
    Usability testing for oppression
    Communication Design Quarterly
  3. Zdenek (2019)
    Guest editor's introduction
    Communication Design Quarterly
  4. Hitt (2018)
    Foregrounding Accessibility Through (Inclusive) Universal Design in Professiona…
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  5. Wheeler (2018)
    <i>Harry Potter</i>and the First Order of Business: Using Simulation to Teach S…
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
Show all 10 →
  1. Browning et al. (2017)
    Teaching a “Critical Accessibility Case Study”
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Jones et al. (2016)
    Disrupting the Past to Disrupt the Future: An Antenarrative of Technical Commun…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Chong (2016)
    The Pedagogy of Usability: An Analysis of Technical Communication Textbooks, An…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Blythe et al. (2014)
    Professional and Technical Communication in a Web 2.0 World
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Simmons et al. (2012)
    Productive Usability: Fostering Civic Engagement and Creating More Useful Onlin…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
Also cites 19 works outside this index ↓
  1. Andrews D. C. (2021)
    Designing technical and professional communication
     ↗
  2. Balzotti J. (2021)
    Technical communication: A design-centric approach
     ↗
  3. 10.1109/TPC.2022.3140570
     ↗
  4. Bowker G. (1999)
    Sorting things out: Classification and its consequences
     ↗
  5. 10.4324/9781003095255
     ↗
  6. 10.18061/dsq.v25i4.627
     ↗
  7. 10.1145/3371300.3383349
     ↗
  8. 10.1007/978-3-031-14447-9_24
     ↗
  9. 10.1111/cgf.14522
     ↗
  10. 10.1007/978-1-4471-3719-1_4
     ↗
  11. Mueller D. (2017)
    Network sense methods for visualizing a discipline
     ↗
  12. 10.37514/TPC-B.2022.1381.2.09
     ↗
  13. Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998 29 U.S.C. § 701 (1998).
     ↗
  14. 10.1109/TVCG.2018.2829750
     ↗
  15. 10.55177/tc674376
     ↗
  16. 10.1109/TPC.2021.3091784
     ↗
  17. 10.1145/947226.947227
     ↗
  18. Walton R. W. (2019)
    Technical communication after the social justice turn: Building coalitions for action
     ↗
  19. 10.1111/cgf.14519
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 0 View in citation network →

Related Articles

  1. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Jul 2024
    Toward TPC-UX: UX Topics in TPC Journals 2013–2022 ↗
    Paul Thompson Hunter
    multimodality technical communication professional writing disability studies
  2. Communication Design Quarterly Sep 2023
    Review of "User Experience as Innovative Academic Practice by Kate Crane and Kelli Cargile Cook," Crane, K., &amp; Cargile Cook, K. (Eds.). (2022). User Experience as Innovative Academic Practice. The WAC Clearinghouse; University Press of Colorado. https://doi.org/10.37514/TPC-B.2022.1367 ↗
    Meghalee Das
    curriculum design writing across the curriculum multimodality technical communication professional writing multilingual writers
  3. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Oct 2021
    Investigating the Impact of Design Thinking, Content Strategy, and Artificial Intelligence: A “Streams” Approach for Technical Communication and User Experience ↗
    Gustav Verhulsdonck; Tharon Howard; Jason Tham
    writing across the curriculum multimodality artificial intelligence technical communication professional writing multilingual writers
  4. Communication Design Quarterly Jun 2018
    Principles of technical communication and design can enrich writing practice in regulated contexts ↗
    Lisa DeTora
    writing across the curriculum multimodality technical communication disability studies multilingual writers
  5. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly Mar 2018
    Exploring Transformative Usability in the Business and Professional Writing Classroom ↗
    Danielle Nielsen
    multimodality technical communication professional writing disability studies