Census 2020 | North Dakota State Government - ND Portal

Tools & Resources | North Dakota State Government - ND Portal

Moving to North Dakota | North Dakota State Government - ND Portal

Working in ND | North Dakota State Government - ND Portal

Home | North Dakota State Government - ND Portal

Contact | North Dakota State Government - ND Portal

Innovation & Industries | North Dakota State Government - ND Portal

State Government | North Dakota State Government - ND Portal

Safety | North Dakota State Government - ND Portal

Social Media | North Dakota State Government - ND Portal

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 2026

December 2025

State of North Dakota

Title / URL	Issues
Census 2020 \| North Dakota State Government - ND Portalwww.nd.gov/news-events/census-2020	1
Tools & Resources \| North Dakota State Government - ND Portalwww.nd.gov/working-nd/tools-resources	1
Moving to North Dakota \| North Dakota State Government - ND Portalwww.nd.gov/working-nd/moving-north-dakota	1
Working in ND \| North Dakota State Government - ND Portalwww.nd.gov/working-nd	1
Home \| North Dakota State Government - ND Portalwww.nd.gov/	1
Contact \| North Dakota State Government - ND Portalwww.nd.gov/contact	1
Innovation & Industries \| North Dakota State Government - ND Portalwww.nd.gov/innovation-industries	1
State Government \| North Dakota State Government - ND Portalwww.nd.gov/government/state-government	1
Safety \| North Dakota State Government - ND Portalwww.nd.gov/living-nd/safety	1
Social Media \| North Dakota State Government - ND Portalwww.nd.gov/social-media	1

Ensure form controls have labels

State of North Dakota

Where this issue has occurred