How to fix empty table header on Shopify Plus

Add visible or screen-reader-accessible text to every empty `<th>` table header cell so assistive technology users can understand what each column or row represents.

Steps for Shopify Plus

  1. Follow the same steps as Shopify above; additionally check any custom Liquid templates stored in the 'templates' directory (e.g., templates/page.custom-comparison.liquid) and any scripts injected via Shopify Scripts or checkout customizations.
  2. For B2B price tables built with the Shopify Plus Wholesale Channel or custom apps, inspect the rendered HTML of those pages and patch the source template or app output accordingly.
Official Shopify Plus documentation ↗

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.

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