A-Z of MS | Multiple sclerosis encyclopedia | MS Trust

Newly diagnosed | MS Trust

Staying Smart | Cognitive health and MS

About MS | MS Trust

Wellbeing and MS | MS Trust

Causes of MS | MS Trust

Home | MS Trust

404 - Page not found | MS Trust

About the MS Trust | MS Trust

Get involved | MS Trust

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

December 2025

November 2025

Multiple Sclerosis Trust

Title / URL	Issues
A-Z of MS \| Multiple sclerosis encyclopedia \| MS Trustmstrust.org.uk/a-z	1
Newly diagnosed \| MS Trustmstrust.org.uk/information-support/newly-diagnosed	1
Staying Smart \| Cognitive health and MSmstrust.org.uk/information-support/staying-smart	1
About MS \| MS Trustmstrust.org.uk/information-support/about-ms	1
Wellbeing and MS \| MS Trustmstrust.org.uk/information-support/wellbeing-ms	1
Causes of MS \| MS Trustmstrust.org.uk/information-support/about-ms/causes-ms	1
Home \| MS Trustmstrust.org.uk/	1
404 - Page not found \| MS Trustmstrust.org.uk/invented-url-for-404-page	1
About the MS Trust \| MS Trustmstrust.org.uk/what-we-do/about-us	1
Get involved \| MS Trustmstrust.org.uk/get-involved	1

Ensure form controls have labels

Multiple Sclerosis Trust

Where this issue has occurred