Contact us | mhs homes

mhs homes | social housing | shared ownership | private rent

News | mhs homes

Privacy Notice | mhs homes

Work for us | mhs homes

Our company structure | mhs homes

Error 404 | mhs homes

Rent a garage | mhs homes

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

January 2025

December 2024

Heart of Medway Housing Association Ltd

Title / URL	Issues
Contact us \| mhs homeswww.mhs.org.uk/about-us/contact-us/	5
mhs homes \| social housing \| shared ownership \| private rentwww.mhs.org.uk/newsletter-signup/	3
mhs homes \| social housing \| shared ownership \| private rentwww.mhs.org.uk/policies/	1
News \| mhs homeswww.mhs.org.uk/about-us/news/	1
Privacy Notice \| mhs homeswww.mhs.org.uk/legal/privacy-notice/	1
mhs homes \| social housing \| shared ownership \| private rentwww.mhs.org.uk/existing-customer/my-account/	1
Work for us \| mhs homeswww.mhs.org.uk/about-us/work-for-us/	1
Our company structure \| mhs homeswww.mhs.org.uk/legal/company-structure/	1
Error 404 \| mhs homeswww.mhs.org.uk/invented-url-for-404-page	1
Rent a garage \| mhs homeswww.mhs.org.uk/find-your-home/rent-a-garage/	1

Identify the purpose of fields programmatically

Heart of Medway Housing Association Ltd

Where this issue has occurred