Judgments | The Courts Service of Ireland

Determinations | The Courts Service of Ireland

A to Z of Topics | The Courts Service of Ireland

Legal Aid | The Courts Service of Ireland

The Irish Courts Podcast | The Courts Service of Ireland

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

Small Claims | The Courts Service of Ireland

Annual Report | 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

May 2025

April 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
A to Z of Topics \| The Courts Service of Irelandwww.courts.ie/z-topics	2
Legal Aid \| The Courts Service of Irelandwww.courts.ie/legal-aid	1
The Irish Courts Podcast \| The Courts Service of Irelandcourts.ie/podcasts	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
Small Claims \| The Courts Service of Irelandwww.courts.ie/small-claims	1
Annual Report \| The Courts Service of Irelandwww.courts.ie/annual-report	1

Ensure form controls have labels

The Courts Service

Where this issue has occurred