Improve table and videos accessibility in BlockNote

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Assessment

Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Newbie friendliness
52/100
Issue type
Feature
Clarity
Mostly clear
Activity status
Quiet
Tech stack
react, typescript
Domain
accessibility, frontend

Research direction

Start by locating the table editing UI and the code that produces generated table markup; review the accessibility discussion in #2766 and the audit context. Done means authors can enter a table title, and the resulting markup exposes it accessibly, preferably through a caption or a documented alternative.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

a11y
Discussed in https://github.com/TypeCellOS/BlockNote/discussions/2766

Originally posted by Ovgodd May 21, 2026

allow authors to define an accessible table title

Feature Request

This issue was identified during the Docs accessibility audit on a page containing table-related content.

Audited page:
https://docs.numerique.gouv.fr/docs/0d998bef-1b69-47ce-bd18-83d4d849c734/

BlockNote tables do not currently provide a way for authors to define an accessible table title.

A table title helps users understand the purpose of the table before navigating its content, especially screen reader users.

What did you expect to happen?

Authors should be able to define an accessible table title in the table editing UI.

This title should be exposed in the generated markup, preferably using <caption>.

Example:

<table>
  <caption>Project members</caption>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Name</th>
      <th>Role</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>Alice</td>
      <td>Designer</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Alternative implementations could use aria-label or aria-labelledby if is not suitable.

Without an accessible table title, users may need to navigate the table content before understanding what the table is about.

A dedicated table title improves comprehension for screen reader users and helps authors create more accessible structured content.

BlockNote version

0.51.4

Dominant language
TypeScript
Stars
10.2k
Forks
772
Avg merge
3d 11h
Merged PRs (30d)
17

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