Online Giving | Eastern Illinois University

Eastern Illinois University :: Error404

View the EIU Campus Map | Eastern Illinois University

Open Positions | Eastern Illinois University

Login to MyEIU | Eastern Illinois University

Majors & Minors | Eastern Illinois University

Transfer Admissions | Eastern Illinois University

Eastern Illinois University :: D2L Brightspace™

Student Services Hub | Eastern Illinois University

Faculty Development and Innovation Center | EIU

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

August 2025

July 2025

Eastern Illinois University

Title / URL	Issues
Online Giving \| Eastern Illinois Universitywww.eiu.edu/giving.php	16
Eastern Illinois University :: Error404www.eiu.edu/invented-url-for-404-page	6
View the EIU Campus Map \| Eastern Illinois Universitywww.eiu.edu/map/	6
Open Positions \| Eastern Illinois Universitywww.eiu.edu/jobs/	3
Login to MyEIU \| Eastern Illinois Universitywww.eiu.edu/myeiu/	3
Majors & Minors \| Eastern Illinois Universitywww.eiu.edu/majors/	2
Transfer Admissions \| Eastern Illinois Universitywww.eiu.edu/transfer/	1
Eastern Illinois University :: D2L Brightspace™www.eiu.edu/d2l/	1
Student Services Hub \| Eastern Illinois Universitywww.eiu.edu/students/	1
Faculty Development and Innovation Center \| EIUwww.eiu.edu/fdic/	1

Ensure form controls have labels

Eastern Illinois University

Where this issue has occurred