Medical University of South Carolina | Leading Health Sciences Education

Doing Research | MUSC Research

Office of Research | MUSC Research

Find a Program at MUSC | MUSC

Partnerships | MUSC Research

First time visit: View without clicking anything

Outcomes & Impact | MUSC Research

Our Administrative Offices | MUSC

Student Life | MUSC

MUSC | The Medical University of South Carolina

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

January 2026

December 2025

Medical University of South Carolina

	Title / URL	Issues
	Medical University of South Carolina \| Leading Health Sciences Educationeducation.musc.edu/	7
	Doing Research \| MUSC Researchresearch.musc.edu/doing-research	7
	Office of Research \| MUSC Researchresearch.musc.edu/	2
	Find a Program at MUSC \| MUSCeducation.musc.edu/colleges-programs/program-finder	2
	Partnerships \| MUSC Researchresearch.musc.edu/partnerships	1
	First time visit: View without clicking anythingwww.musc.edu/	1
	Outcomes & Impact \| MUSC Researchresearch.musc.edu/outcomes-impact	1
	Our Administrative Offices \| MUSCwww.musc.edu/about/offices	1
	Student Life \| MUSCeducation.musc.edu/student-life	1
	MUSC \| The Medical University of South Carolinawww.musc.edu/	1

Ensure form controls have labels

Medical University of South Carolina

Where this issue has occurred