From 19fcc29f0b03696afb92f0134aa74f0826d9b964 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2026 21:24:37 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] Read a linear table one line per row, leaving empty cells out
 (2.24.0)

A screen reader heard WHO as four lines per player, with a bare
"Doing:" for every empty cell. Each row is now one line of labelled
values, comma-separated, and empty cells are left out with their labels.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01Wy1Vu4ZXX4NeZVnrnUiQbs
---
 CHANGELOG.md                                  |  9 +++++++++
 .../Layout/FieldsAndTreeTests.cs              | 19 ++++++++++++++++++-
 MarkupString/Layout/Blocks/Table.cs           | 19 +++++++++++++++++--
 3 files changed, 44 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5617194..3ef12d7 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,15 @@ and `MarkupString.Pueblo`. The packages share one version and are released toget
 The format follows [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/), and the project
 follows [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
+## 2.24.0 — Unreleased
+
+### Changed
+
+- **A `Table` read linearly is one line per row**: its labelled values, comma-separated
+  (`Player Name: Dave, On For: 4s`), where it was one line per cell. A cell with nothing in it is left
+  out with its label, so a screen reader no longer reads a bare `Doing:`. A column with no heading reads
+  its value alone. A table too narrow for its columns still draws its rows as cards.
+
 ## 2.23.0 — Unreleased
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/MarkupString.Tests/Layout/FieldsAndTreeTests.cs b/MarkupString.Tests/Layout/FieldsAndTreeTests.cs
index b8e8b85..2331885 100644
--- a/MarkupString.Tests/Layout/FieldsAndTreeTests.cs
+++ b/MarkupString.Tests/Layout/FieldsAndTreeTests.cs
@@ -101,7 +101,24 @@ public async Task Table_Linear_LabelsEachCellWithoutTheHeadingsPadding()
 			[new TableColumn(P("Player")), new TableColumn(P("Idle ")) { Alignment = Alignment.Right }],
 			[[new TextBlock(P("Mannaz")), new TextBlock(P("59s"))]]);
 
-		await Assert.That(Lines(table, 40, new LayoutContext { Linear = true })).IsEquivalentTo(new[] { "Player: Mannaz", "Idle: 59s" });
+		await Assert.That(Lines(table, 40, new LayoutContext { Linear = true })).IsEquivalentTo(new[] { "Player: Mannaz, Idle: 59s" });
+	}
+
+	[Test]
+	public async Task Table_Linear_ReadsEachRowAsOneLine_LeavingEmptyCellsOut()
+	{
+		var table = new Table(
+			[new TableColumn(P("Player Name")), new TableColumn(P("On For")), new TableColumn(P("Doing")), new TableColumn(P(""))],
+			[
+				[new TextBlock(P("Dave")), new TextBlock(P("4s")), new TextBlock(P("")), new TextBlock(P("[To do]"))],
+				[new TextBlock(P("Bob")), new TextBlock(P("1m")), new TextBlock(P("Exploring"))],
+			]);
+
+		await Assert.That(Lines(table, 60, new LayoutContext { Linear = true })).IsEquivalentTo(new[]
+		{
+			"Player Name: Dave, On For: 4s, [To do]",
+			"Player Name: Bob, On For: 1m, Doing: Exploring",
+		});
 	}
 
 	private static Tree Channels(TreeGuide guide) => new(
diff --git a/MarkupString/Layout/Blocks/Table.cs b/MarkupString/Layout/Blocks/Table.cs
index ad009b8..616bc28 100644
--- a/MarkupString/Layout/Blocks/Table.cs
+++ b/MarkupString/Layout/Blocks/Table.cs
@@ -82,10 +82,25 @@ public override void Draw(LayoutContext context, int width, IList<MarkupText> li
 		}
 	}
 
-	/// <inheritdoc/>
+	/// <summary>
+	/// Each row as one line of labelled values, comma-separated, so a screen reader hears a row where the eye
+	/// sees one. A cell with nothing in it is left out with its label: a reader saying "Doing:" says nothing.
+	/// A column with no heading reads its value alone.
+	/// </summary>
 	public override void DrawLinear(LayoutContext context, int width, IList<MarkupText> lines)
 	{
-		if (!Columns.IsDefaultOrEmpty) DrawCards(context, width, lines);
+		if (Columns.IsDefaultOrEmpty) return;
+		var values = context with { TextAlignment = Alignment.Left };
+		foreach (var row in AllRows)
+		{
+			var parts = Enumerable.Range(0, Columns.Length)
+				.Select(c => (Label: Columns[c].Header.Trim(TrimType.TrimBoth), Value: MarkupText.Join(MarkupText.Plain(" "), values.Lines(Cell(row, c), int.MaxValue / 2).Select(line => line.Trim(TrimType.TrimBoth)))))
+				.Where(part => part.Value.ToPlainText().Trim().Length > 0)
+				.Select(part => part.Label.Length == 0 ? part.Value : MarkupText.Concat([part.Label, MarkupText.Plain(": "), part.Value]));
+			var line = MarkupText.Join(MarkupText.Plain(", "), parts);
+			if (line.Length == 0) continue;
+			foreach (var wrapped in values.Lines(new TextBlock(line), width)) lines.Add(wrapped);
+		}
 	}
 
 	/// <summary>Each row as a card of labelled values, the way a phone shows a table too wide for it.</summary>