Cases & Tariffs | Copyright Board of Canada

History | Copyright Board of Canada

Page not found | Copyright Board of Canada

Help | Copyright Board of Canada

Homepage | Copyright Board of Canada

Page non trouvée | Commission du droit d'auteur du Canada

Tools | Copyright Board of Canada

First time visit: View without clicking anything

Avis de pratique | Commission du droit d'auteur du Canada

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

July 2025

June 2025

Copyright Board Canada

Title / URL	Issues
Cases & Tariffs \| Copyright Board of Canadawww.cb-cda.gc.ca/en/cases-tariffs	1
History \| Copyright Board of Canadacb-cda.gc.ca/en/about-us/history	1
History \| Copyright Board of Canadawww.cb-cda.gc.ca/en/about-us/history	1
Page not found \| Copyright Board of Canadawww.cb-cda.gc.ca/invented-url-for-404-page	1
Help \| Copyright Board of Canadawww.cb-cda.gc.ca/en/help	1
Homepage \| Copyright Board of Canadacb-cda.gc.ca/en	1
Page non trouvée \| Commission du droit d'auteur du Canadawww.cb-cda.gc.ca/fr/system/404	1
Tools \| Copyright Board of Canadawww.cb-cda.gc.ca/en/tools	1
First time visit: View without clicking anythingwww.cb-cda.gc.ca/en	1
Avis de pratique \| Commission du droit d'auteur du Canadacb-cda.gc.ca/fr/outils/avis-de-pratique	1

Ensure form controls have labels

Copyright Board Canada

Where this issue has occurred