Notify Me • Gaston County, NC • CivicEngage

Accessibility | Gaston County, NC

First time visit: View without clicking anything

Boards & Committees | Gaston County, NC

Staff Directory • Gaston County, NC • CivicEngage

How Do I... | Gaston County, NC

Site Map • Gaston County, NC • CivicEngage

Departments | Gaston County, NC

News Flash • Create an Account

2024 Annual Report | Gaston County, NC

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

August 2025

July 2025

Gaston County, North Carolina

	Title / URL	Issues
	Notify Me • Gaston County, NC • CivicEngagewww.gastongov.com/list.aspx	12
	Accessibility \| Gaston County, NCwww.gastongov.com/153/Accessibility	5
	First time visit: View without clicking anythingwww.gastongov.com/	5
	Boards & Committees \| Gaston County, NCwww.gastongov.com/172/Boards-Committees	5
	Staff Directory • Gaston County, NC • CivicEngagewww.gastongov.com/directory.aspx	5
	How Do I... \| Gaston County, NCwww.gastongov.com/9/How-Do-I	5
	Site Map • Gaston County, NC • CivicEngagewww.gastongov.com/sitemap	5
	Departments \| Gaston County, NCwww.gastongov.com/101/Departments	5
	News Flash • Create an Accountwww.gastongov.com/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=14	5
	2024 Annual Report \| Gaston County, NCwww.gastongov.com/1368/2024-Annual-Report	5

Identify the purpose of fields programmatically

Gaston County, North Carolina

Where this issue has occurred