Phil Redmond, Author at DCMS blog

heritage Archives - Page 2 of 3 - DCMS blog

Sport Archives - DCMS blog

Will Gardner, Author at DCMS blog

#CultureIsDigital - DCMS blog

apprenticeship Archives - DCMS blog

Toby Coffey, Author at DCMS blog

Chantal Condron, Author at DCMS blog

China Archives - DCMS blog

Martin Sadler, Author at DCMS blog

People using screen readers are not able to see the layout of a form. To make forms
accessible, they must define explicit text labels for each form control. 

Usually the best solution is to use a `<label>` element. The label may be linked to 
by the form control:

```html
<label for="name">Full name</label>
<input type="name" id="name">
```

or the `<label>` can be wrapped around the form control:

```html
<label>
    Full name <input type="name">
</label>
```

Buttons are different, as their labels are specified by the code for the button, e.g.

```html
<input type="submit" value="Send message">
<button>Send message</button>
```

Alternatively ARIA attributes, such as `aria-label` may be used, but this information
will not be conveyed to visual users. For more information, see [W3C's guide to labeling controls](https://www.w3.org/WAI/tutorials/forms/labels/).

Hidden input fields (`<input type="hidden">`) do not require labels.
Note that the `placeholder` attribute 
[should not be used as an alternative to a label](https://www.w3.org/TR/html/sec-forms.html#the-placeholder-attribute),
nor should the `title` attribute.

## Custom roles

Note that this check considers the underlying accessible role of an element, which can be 
different from the tag itself.

For example, this `<div>` has a `role` of `button`, and so is expected to have a label, like
a button would.

```html
<div role="button"></div>
```

form-control-labels

August 2025

July 2025

DCMS blog

	Title / URL	Issues
	Phil Redmond, Author at DCMS blogdcmsblog.uk/author/philredmond/	1
	heritage Archives - Page 2 of 3 - DCMS blogdcmsblog.uk/tag/heritage/page/2/	1
	Sport Archives - DCMS blogdcmsblog.uk/category/sport/	1
	Will Gardner, Author at DCMS blogdcmsblog.uk/author/will-gardner/	1
	#CultureIsDigital - DCMS blogdcmsblog.uk/2017/04/cultureisdigital/	1
	apprenticeship Archives - DCMS blogdcmsblog.uk/tag/apprenticeship/	1
	Toby Coffey, Author at DCMS blogdcmsblog.uk/author/tobycoffey/	1
	Chantal Condron, Author at DCMS blogdcmsblog.uk/author/chantalcondron/	1
	China Archives - DCMS blogdcmsblog.uk/category/china/	1
	Martin Sadler, Author at DCMS blogdcmsblog.uk/author/martinsadler/	1

Ensure form controls have labels

DCMS blog

Where this issue has occurred