Get a birth certificate for someone over 3 | SF.gov

Report a problem | SF.gov

Parking | SF.gov

Departments | SF.gov

Assessor-Recorder | SF.gov

Building permits | SF.gov

Services | SF.gov

Not Found | SF.gov

San Francisco City Hall | SF.gov

Rent Board | SF.gov

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

City of San Francisco

	Title / URL	Issues
	Get a birth certificate for someone over 3 \| SF.govwww.sf.gov/get-birth-certificate-someone-over-3	1
	Report a problem \| SF.govwww.sf.gov/topics--problems-and-complaints	1
	Parking \| SF.govwww.sf.gov/topics--parking	1
	Departments \| SF.govwww.sf.gov/departments	1
	Assessor-Recorder \| SF.govwww.sf.gov/departments--assessor-recorder	1
	Building permits \| SF.govwww.sf.gov/topics--building-permits	1
	Services \| SF.govwww.sf.gov/services	1
	Not Found \| SF.govwww.sf.gov/invented-url-for-404-page	1
	San Francisco City Hall \| SF.govwww.sf.gov/location--san-francisco-city-hall	1
	Rent Board \| SF.govwww.sf.gov/departments--rent-board	1

Ensure form controls have labels

City of San Francisco

Where this issue has occurred