SETU Carlow Campus Libraries - South East Technological University

SETU Carlow, South East Technological University Carlow Campus

SETU - Department of Business

SETU - Department of Science & Health

SETU - Department of Humanities

South East Technological University - Courses

SETU - Postgraduate Programmes

SETU - Part time courses | Evening courses | Lifelong learning

South East Technological University - Study

SETU - Wexford Campus

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

June 2025

May 2025

Institute of Technology Carlow

Title / URL	Issues
SETU Carlow Campus Libraries - South East Technological Universitywww.itcarlow.ie/library/home.htm	2
SETU Carlow, South East Technological University Carlow Campuswww.itcarlow.ie/courses/search-courses/search-by-keyword.htm	2
SETU - Department of Businesswww.itcarlow.ie/courses/department/business.htm	1
SETU - Department of Science & Healthwww.itcarlow.ie/courses/department/science-health.htm	1
SETU - Department of Humanitieswww.itcarlow.ie/courses/department/humanities.htm	1
South East Technological University - Courseswww.itcarlow.ie/courses.htm	1
SETU - Postgraduate Programmeswww.itcarlow.ie/study/postgraduate-rd.htm	1
SETU - Part time courses \| Evening courses \| Lifelong learningwww.itcarlow.ie/study/lifelong-learning.htm	1
South East Technological University - Studywww.itcarlow.ie/study.htm	1
SETU - Wexford Campuswww.itcarlow.ie/courses/department/wexford-campus.htm	1

Identify the purpose of fields programmatically

Institute of Technology Carlow

Where this issue has occurred