Caterpillar | Caterpillar Inc

Caterpillar | Leadership | Management Team | Governance & Organizational Structure

Caterpillar | Company History

First time visit: View without clicking anything

Caterpillar | 404 Error | Page not Found

Caterpillar | Sustainability: Environmental, Social & Corporate Governance

Caterpillar | Code of Conduct | Caterpillar Values in Action

Caterpillar | Company | Strategy & Purpose

Caterpillar | Caterpillar Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

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

January 2026

December 2025

Caterpillar Inc.

	Title / URL	Issues
	Caterpillar \| Caterpillar Incwww.caterpillar.com/en.html	5
	Caterpillar \| Leadership \| Management Team \| Governance & Organizational Structurewww.caterpillar.com/en/company/governance.html	5
	Caterpillar \| Company Historywww.caterpillar.com/en/company/history.html	5
	First time visit: View without clicking anythingwww.caterpillar.com/	5
	Caterpillar \| 404 Error \| Page not Foundwww.caterpillar.com/invented-url-for-404-page	5
	Caterpillar \| Sustainability: Environmental, Social & Corporate Governancewww.caterpillar.com/en/company/sustainability.html	5
	Caterpillar \| Code of Conduct \| Caterpillar Values in Actionwww.caterpillar.com/en/company/code-of-conduct.html	5
	Caterpillar \| Company \| Strategy & Purposewww.caterpillar.com/en/company/strategy-purpose.html	5
	Caterpillar \| Caterpillar Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)www.caterpillar.com/en/news/caterpillar-faq.html	5
	Caterpillar \| Caterpillar Incwww.caterpillar.com/	5

Ensure form controls have labels

Caterpillar Inc.

Where this issue has occurred