How to fix empty table header on BigCommerce

Steps for BigCommerce

1. In your BigCommerce Admin, go to Storefront → My Themes → click Customize on your active theme, then open the Theme Editor. For code-level edits, click Advanced → Edit Theme Files.
2. Browse to templates/components/ and templates/pages/ — look for files containing `<table>` markup (e.g., product-comparison.html, account-orders.html).
3. Search for empty `<th>` elements and add descriptive text or `aria-label` attributes.
4. If comparison or spec tables are rendered by a BigCommerce widget, go to Page Builder (Storefront → Page Builder) and edit the widget's HTML/Text block directly.
5. Save changes and verify with the axe DevTools browser extension.

What is empty table header?

A table header (`<th>`) is the label that explains what the data in a column or row means — like "Product Name," "Price," or "Quantity." When a `<th>` element exists in your HTML but contains no text (or only invisible content), screen readers announce it as blank, leaving blind and low-vision shoppers with no idea what that column or row is about. This is an accessibility failure under WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships) and 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value). Empty table headers most commonly appear in comparison tables, product specification tables, pricing grids, and order-history tables on ecommerce sites.

Screen reader users — a significant portion of shoppers with visual impairments — rely entirely on table headers to navigate data tables. An empty header makes a table incomprehensible and can force them to abandon your product comparison or checkout entirely, costing you conversions. In many jurisdictions (USA under ADA, EU under EAA, UK under PSED) inaccessible websites expose businesses to legal complaints and lawsuits; accessibility litigation has been rising sharply year over year. Fixing this issue also signals to Google's crawlers that your page structure is well-formed, which can modestly support your organic rankings.

See the complete Empty table header guide for every platform and the full background.