Our Podcasts | Edelman

About Edelman | Edelman

Welcome to Edelman

Page not found | Edelman

Our Work | Edelman

Edelman's Gen Z Lab | Edelman

25 Years of Trust | Edelman

Local Action Global Transformation | Edelman

Insights | Edelman

Heineken®: The Social Swap | Edelman

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

Edelman

Title / URL	Issues
Our Podcasts \| Edelmanwww.edelman.com/newsroom/podcasts	2
About Edelman \| Edelmanwww.edelman.com/about-us	1
Welcome to Edelmanwww.edelman.com/	1
Page not found \| Edelmanwww.edelman.com/invented-url-for-404-page	1
Our Work \| Edelmanwww.edelman.com/work?page=1	1
Edelman's Gen Z Lab \| Edelmanwww.edelman.com/future-consumer	1
25 Years of Trust \| Edelmanwww.edelman.com/trust/25years	1
Local Action Global Transformation \| Edelmanwww.edelman.com/about-us/citizenship	1
Insights \| Edelmanwww.edelman.com/insights	1
Heineken®: The Social Swap \| Edelmanwww.edelman.com/work/social-swap	1

Ensure form controls have labels

Edelman

Where this issue has occurred