USA Data Centers & Colocation | Americas Data Center Locations | Digital Realty

Digital Realty | Data Center Services

Global Data Centers Solutions | Digital Realty

Europe, Middle East & Africa Data Centers & Colocation | EMEA Data Center Locations | Digital Realty

Asia Pacific Data Centers | Digital Realty

Digital Realty Alliance Partner Solutions | Digital Realty

HPE GreenLake Data Center Solutions | Digital Realty

NVIDIA DGX-Ready Data Centers | Digital Realty

Where Tomorrow Comes Together | Digital Realty | Digital Realty

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

Digital Realty Trust Inc

Title / URL	Issues
USA Data Centers & Colocation \| Americas Data Center Locations \| Digital Realtywww.digitalrealty.com/data-centers/americas	2
Digital Realty \| Data Center Serviceswww.digitalrealty.com/resources	2
Global Data Centers Solutions \| Digital Realtywww.digitalrealty.com/data-centers	2
Europe, Middle East & Africa Data Centers & Colocation \| EMEA Data Center Locations \| Digital Realtywww.digitalrealty.com/data-centers/emea	2
Digital Realty \| Data Center Serviceswww.digitalrealty.com/invented-url-for-404-page	2
Asia Pacific Data Centers \| Digital Realtywww.digitalrealty.com/data-centers/asia-pacific	2
Digital Realty Alliance Partner Solutions \| Digital Realtywww.digitalrealty.com/partners	1
HPE GreenLake Data Center Solutions \| Digital Realtywww.digitalrealty.com/partners/hpe	1
NVIDIA DGX-Ready Data Centers \| Digital Realtywww.digitalrealty.com/partners/nvidia	1
Where Tomorrow Comes Together \| Digital Realty \| Digital Realtywww.digitalrealty.com/about	1

Ensure form controls have labels

Digital Realty Trust Inc

Where this issue has occurred