Terms of Use | STERIS

How To Order | STERIS

Contact Us | STERIS

Company Overview and Information | STERIS

Contact Information

Site Map | STERIS Corporation

Health, Safety, and Environmental Policies | STERIS

Certificates of Analysis (COA) | STERIS

Welcome to STERIS | STERIS

Sustainability | STERIS Sustainability

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

STERIS plc

Title / URL	Issues
Terms of Use \| STERISwww.steris.com/about/business/terms	2
How To Order \| STERISwww.steris.com/about/business/how-to-order	2
Contact Us \| STERISwww.steris.com/contact/contactform	2
Company Overview and Information \| STERISwww.steris.com/about/company	2
Contact Informationwww.steris.com/contact/contact-information	2
Site Map \| STERIS Corporationwww.steris.com/sitemap	2
Health, Safety, and Environmental Policies \| STERISwww.steris.com/about/hse	2
Certificates of Analysis (COA) \| STERISwww.steris.com/healthcare/support/coa	2
Welcome to STERIS \| STERISwww.steris.com/	2
Sustainability \| STERIS Sustainabilitywww.steris.com/sustainability	2

Ensure form controls have labels

STERIS plc

Where this issue has occurred