Share your story | Nottingham Trent University

International | Nottingham Trent University

Postgraduate study | Nottingham Trent University

Page Not Found | Nottingham Trent University

Home | Nottingham Trent University

First time visit: View without clicking anything

Teaching | Nottingham Trent University

Research News and Events | Nottingham Trent University

Working at NTU | Nottingham Trent University

Benefits | Nottingham Trent University

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

Nottingham Trent University

	Title / URL	Issues
	Share your story \| Nottingham Trent Universitywww.ntu.ac.uk/alumni/alumni-stories/alumni-share-your-story-form	8
	International \| Nottingham Trent Universitywww.ntu.ac.uk/international	2
	Postgraduate study \| Nottingham Trent Universitywww.ntu.ac.uk/study-and-courses/postgraduate	2
	Page Not Found \| Nottingham Trent Universitywww.ntu.ac.uk/invented-url-for-404-page	2
	Home \| Nottingham Trent Universitywww.ntu.ac.uk/	2
	First time visit: View without clicking anythingwww.ntu.ac.uk/	2
	Teaching \| Nottingham Trent Universitywww.ntu.ac.uk/about-us/teaching	1
	Research News and Events \| Nottingham Trent Universitywww.ntu.ac.uk/research/news-and-events	1
	Working at NTU \| Nottingham Trent Universitywww.ntu.ac.uk/jobs/working-at-ntu	1
	Benefits \| Nottingham Trent Universitywww.ntu.ac.uk/jobs/working-at-ntu/benefits	1

Ensure form controls have labels

Nottingham Trent University

Where this issue has occurred