Seattle Institute of East Asian Medicine

SIEAM

Info Sessions — SIEAM

Programs Overview — SIEAM

Exceptional Clinical Training — SIEAM

Clinic — SIEAM

SIEAM Blog — SIEAM

Continuing Education — SIEAM

Case Reports — SIEAM

Research — SIEAM

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

January 2025

December 2024

Title / URL	Issues
Seattle Institute of East Asian Medicinesieam.edu/	3
SIEAMsieam.edu/search	3
Info Sessions — SIEAMsieam.edu/info-sessions	2
Programs Overview — SIEAMsieam.edu/programs-overview	2
Exceptional Clinical Training — SIEAMsieam.edu/sieam-clinics-2	2
Clinic — SIEAMsieam.edu/teaching-clinic	2
SIEAM Blog — SIEAMsieam.edu/sieam-blog-2	2
Continuing Education — SIEAMsieam.edu/continuing-edu	2
Case Reports — SIEAMsieam.edu/case-reports-1	2
Research — SIEAMsieam.edu/research	2

Ensure form controls have labels

SIEAM

Where this issue has occurred