Rates and Charges and Property Valuations | Southern Midlands Council

About Council | Southern Midlands Council

First time visit: View without clicking anything

Council Meetings | Southern Midlands Council

Positions Vacant | Southern Midlands Council

Contacts | Southern Midlands Council

Mayor and Councillors | Southern Midlands Council

News | Southern Midlands Council

Southern Midlands Council | A rural local government authority located in Tasmania Australia

Payments | Southern Midlands Council

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

February 2026

January 2026

Southern Midlands Council

	Title / URL	Issues
	Rates and Charges and Property Valuations \| Southern Midlands Councilwww.southernmidlands.tas.gov.au/property-and-rates/	1
	About Council \| Southern Midlands Councilwww.southernmidlands.tas.gov.au/about/	1
	First time visit: View without clicking anythingwww.southernmidlands.tas.gov.au/	1
	Council Meetings \| Southern Midlands Councilwww.southernmidlands.tas.gov.au/council-meetings/	1
	Positions Vacant \| Southern Midlands Councilwww.southernmidlands.tas.gov.au/positions-vacant/	1
	Contacts \| Southern Midlands Councilwww.southernmidlands.tas.gov.au/contact/	1
	Mayor and Councillors \| Southern Midlands Councilwww.southernmidlands.tas.gov.au/councillors/	1
	News \| Southern Midlands Councilwww.southernmidlands.tas.gov.au/news/	1
	Southern Midlands Council \| A rural local government authority located in Tasmania Australiawww.southernmidlands.tas.gov.au/	1
	Payments \| Southern Midlands Councilwww.southernmidlands.tas.gov.au/payments/	1

Ensure form controls have labels

Southern Midlands Council

Where this issue has occurred