About us

Events and fundraising activities

Volunteer

Apply for a hearing dog

Subscribe to our newsletter

Our services

Helping deaf people

Error404

Disclaimer

Assistance Dogs UK

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

November 2025

October 2025

Hearing Dogs for Deaf People

	Title / URL	Issues
	About uswww.hearingdogs.org.uk/about/	6
	Events and fundraising activitieswww.hearingdogs.org.uk/support/events/	4
	Volunteerwww.hearingdogs.org.uk/volunteer/	4
	Apply for a hearing dogwww.hearingdogs.org.uk/apply/	2
	Subscribe to our newsletterwww.hearingdogs.org.uk/subscribe/enews/	2
	Our serviceswww.hearingdogs.org.uk/helpingyou/	2
	Helping deaf peoplewww.hearingdogs.org.uk/helping-deaf-people/	2
	Error404www.hearingdogs.org.uk/invented-url-for-404-page	2
	Disclaimerwww.hearingdogs.org.uk/terms/disclaimer/	2
	Assistance Dogs UKwww.hearingdogs.org.uk/about/aduk/	2

Ensure form controls have labels

Hearing Dogs for Deaf People

Where this issue has occurred