Baltimore County Services | Baltimore County Government

Contact Us | Baltimore County Government

Newsroom | Baltimore County Government

First time visit: View without clicking anything

Page not found | Baltimore County Government

Apply | Baltimore County Government

Holiday Closing Schedule | Baltimore County Government

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

February 2026

January 2026

Baltimore County, Maryland

	Title / URL	Issues
	Baltimore County Services \| Baltimore County Governmentwww.baltimorecountymd.gov/services	2
	Contact Us \| Baltimore County Governmentwww.baltimorecountymd.gov/contact/department	2
	Newsroom \| Baltimore County Governmentbaltimorecountymd.gov/county-news	2
	Baltimore County Services \| Baltimore County Governmentbaltimorecountymd.gov/services	2
	Contact Us \| Baltimore County Governmentbaltimorecountymd.gov/contact/department	2
	First time visit: View without clicking anythingbaltimorecountymd.gov/	1
	Page not found \| Baltimore County Governmentbaltimorecountymd.gov/invented-url-for-404-page	1
	Apply \| Baltimore County Governmentbaltimorecountymd.gov/apply	1
	Holiday Closing Schedule \| Baltimore County Governmentwww.baltimorecountymd.gov/news/holidays	1
	Apply \| Baltimore County Governmentwww.baltimorecountymd.gov/apply	1

Ensure form controls have labels

Baltimore County, Maryland

Where this issue has occurred