Grid or table? Know what your data really needs
Accessibility specialist Sarah Higley has seen it firsthand: “tables and grids are over-represented in accessibility bugs.” The old warning against using <table> for layout has come full circle — now developers are so comfortable with CSS grid that they reach for it by default, even when a semantic table is the right call.
At the top of Higley’s list of ways tables and grids can go wrong: “Using a grid when a table is needed, or vice versa.” It’s a framing problem, not a styling one. Her examples show how the same content — say, an upcoming concerts list — can be rendered either way, but the choice changes both the visual experience and the semantic meaning. A table works when users may want to sort or compare rows. A grid can make headers easier to skim and offer different layout advantages, but it doesn’t carry the same structural intent for assistive tech.
