Shop | Royal College of Music

Brass | Royal College of Music

Research enquiries | Royal College of Music

Royal College of Music Museum | Royal College of Music

Fellowships | Royal College of Music

After your audition | Royal College of Music

Accommodation | Royal College of Music

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

August 2025

July 2025

Royal College of Music London

Title / URL	Issues
Shop \| Royal College of Musicwww.rcm.ac.uk/shop/?filters=1&ptag=Score	3
Shop \| Royal College of Musicwww.rcm.ac.uk/shop/?filters=1&ptag=Book	3
Shop \| Royal College of Musicwww.rcm.ac.uk/2017testarea/shop2019/	3
Shop \| Royal College of Musicwww.rcm.ac.uk/shop/	3
Brass \| Royal College of Musicwww.rcm.ac.uk/brass/	2
Research enquiries \| Royal College of Musicwww.rcm.ac.uk/research/researchenquiries/	2
Royal College of Music Museum \| Royal College of Musicwww.rcm.ac.uk/museum/	2
Fellowships \| Royal College of Musicwww.rcm.ac.uk/fellowships/	2
After your audition \| Royal College of Musicwww.rcm.ac.uk/apply/afteraudition/	2
Accommodation \| Royal College of Musicwww.rcm.ac.uk/life/accommodation/	2

Ensure form controls have labels

Royal College of Music London

Where this issue has occurred