First time visit: View without clicking anything

Public Safety Canada - Home

Border Strategies

Firearms

Terms and conditions

Policing

Frequently Asked Questions

Library and Information Centre

Memorial Grant Program for First Responders

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

March 2025

February 2025

Public Safety Canada

Title / URL	Issues
First time visit: View without clicking anythingwww.publicsafety.gc.ca/index-en.aspx	1
Public Safety Canada - Homewww.publicsafety.gc.ca/index-en.aspx?wbdisable=true	1
Border Strategieswww.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/brdr-strtgs/index-en.aspx	1
Firearmswww.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/cntrng-crm/frrms/index-en.aspx	1
Terms and conditionswww.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/ntcs/trms-en.aspx	1
Policingwww.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/cntrng-crm/plcng/index-en.aspx	1
Frequently Asked Questionswww.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/frquntl-skd-qustns-en.aspx	1
Library and Information Centrewww.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/lbrr/index-en.aspx	1
Memorial Grant Program for First Responderswww.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/bt/mmrl-grnt-prgrm/index-en.aspx	1
Public Safety Canada - Homewww.publicsafety.gc.ca/index-en.aspx	1

Ensure form controls have labels

Public Safety Canada

Where this issue has occurred