Library – CCRI

404 - Page cannot be found – CCRI

Department of Institutional Equity and Human Resources – CCRI

Honors Program – CCRI

Access – CCRI

Student Groups – CCRI

Online Learning and Technology for Students – CCRI

Campus Store – CCRI

Hispanic-Serving Institution – CCRI

Academic and Career Paths – CCRI

To comply with WCAG 2.1, fields must identify what their purpose is _programmatically_. If done correctly,
this allows browsers to help users fill in forms with known information, such as their name and email address.

This is accomplished via the `autocomplete` attribute, which should be set to a 
[supported value](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Attributes/autocomplete) wherever
appropriate, e.g. 

```html
<label for="name">
  First Name
</label>
<input id="name" type="text" autocomplete="given-name">
```

For fields where `autocomplete` is not appropriate, e.g. due to security, or the field not matching the
specification, the specific field should be ignored.

## Methodology

* All fields which could support `autocomplete` (e.g. text fields)
  are checked. Other fields - like dropdown menus - are ignored.
* The [accessible name](https://www.w3.org/TR/accname-1.2/) of each field is considered. In most cases this
  will be the `<label>` for the field.
* If the name matches a known pattern the field 
  must have an appropriate `autocomplete` value specified.
  For example, an `<input>` with type `text` with a label of 
  "First Name" would be expected to have an autocomplete value 
  of `given-name` or similar.

Note that using `autocomplete="on"` is not sufficient to pass this check, a
specific named autocomplete value must be used. See the
[supported values](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Attributes/autocomplete).

## Troubleshooting

If a field is a false positive, check whether the field has an 
appropriate accessible name (i.e. a `<label>` or `aria-label`).

If the label is incorrect, Silktide may assume that the field 
requires `autocomplete` where it does not. You should fix the 
label to avoid this.

Otherwise, you can simply ignore the specific field.

## More information

* [How to use HTML 5.2 attributes](https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Techniques/html/H98)

identify-input-purpose

April 2025

March 2025

Community College of Rhode Island

Title / URL	Issues
Library – CCRIccri.edu/library/	6
404 - Page cannot be found – CCRIccri.edu/invented-url-for-404-page	5
Department of Institutional Equity and Human Resources – CCRIccri.edu/hr/	5
Honors Program – CCRIccri.edu/honors/	5
Access – CCRIccri.edu/access/	5
Student Groups – CCRIccri.edu/osl/clubs/	5
Online Learning and Technology for Students – CCRIccri.edu/online/	5
Campus Store – CCRIccri.edu/bookstore/	5
Hispanic-Serving Institution – CCRIccri.edu/hsi/index.html	5
Academic and Career Paths – CCRIccri.edu/pathways/	5

Identify the purpose of fields programmatically

Community College of Rhode Island

Where this issue has occurred