Home | Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT)

Study | Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT)

NMIT Open Day 2025 | Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT)

Student exchange | Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT)

Page not found | Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT)

News | Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT)

Subscribe | Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT)

Apply | Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT)

About | Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT)

Academic dates | Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT)

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

October 2025

September 2025

Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology

	Title / URL	Issues
	Home \| Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT)www.nmit.ac.nz/	2
	Study \| Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT)www.nmit.ac.nz/study	2
	NMIT Open Day 2025 \| Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT)www.nmit.ac.nz/news/nmit-open-day	1
	Student exchange \| Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT)www.nmit.ac.nz/study/student-exchange	1
	Page not found \| Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT)www.nmit.ac.nz/invented-url-for-404-page	1
	News \| Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT)www.nmit.ac.nz/news	1
	Subscribe \| Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT)www.nmit.ac.nz/about/subscribe	1
	Apply \| Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT)www.nmit.ac.nz/study/apply	1
	About \| Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT)www.nmit.ac.nz/about	1
	Academic dates \| Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT)www.nmit.ac.nz/about/academic-dates	1

Ensure form controls have labels

Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology

Where this issue has occurred