Judgments | The Courts Service of Ireland

Determinations | The Courts Service of Ireland

Latest News | The Courts Service of Ireland

Publications | The Courts Service of Ireland

First time visit: View without clicking anything

404 Error - Page Not Found | The Courts Service of Ireland

Four Courts 100 | The Courts Service of Ireland

Online Searches | The Courts Service of Ireland

Remote Courts | The Courts Service of Ireland

Home | The Courts Service of Ireland

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

September 2025

August 2025

The Courts Service

	Title / URL	Issues
	Judgments \| The Courts Service of Irelandwww.courts.ie/judgments	6
	Determinations \| The Courts Service of Irelandwww.courts.ie/determinations	6
	Latest News \| The Courts Service of Irelandwww.courts.ie/latest_news	2
	Publications \| The Courts Service of Irelandwww.courts.ie/publications	2
	First time visit: View without clicking anythingwww.courts.ie/	1
	404 Error - Page Not Found \| The Courts Service of Irelandwww.courts.ie/invented-url-for-404-page	1
	Four Courts 100 \| The Courts Service of Irelandwww.courts.ie/four-courts-100	1
	Online Searches \| The Courts Service of Irelandwww.courts.ie/online-searches	1
	Remote Courts \| The Courts Service of Irelandwww.courts.ie/remotecourts	1
	Home \| The Courts Service of Irelandwww.courts.ie/ga	1

Ensure form controls have labels

The Courts Service

Where this issue has occurred