The Office of Research - Office of Research

Home - Strategic Plan

Home - UAB News

World-Renowned Business School in Alabama - UAB Collat School of Business

Home - Bill L. Harbert Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Home - School of Health Professions

Home - Graduate School

Home - Center for Clinical and Translational Science

Home - Staff Council

Home - School of Public Health

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

October 2025

September 2025

University of Alabama at Birmingham

Title / URL	Issues
The Office of Research - Office of Researchwww.uab.edu/research/home/	3
Home - Strategic Planwww.uab.edu/plan/	1
Home - UAB Newswww.uab.edu/news/	1
World-Renowned Business School in Alabama - UAB Collat School of Businesswww.uab.edu/business/home/	1
Home - Bill L. Harbert Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurshipwww.uab.edu/innovation/	1
Home - School of Health Professionswww.uab.edu/shp/home/	1
Home - Graduate Schoolwww.uab.edu/graduate/	1
Home - Center for Clinical and Translational Sciencewww.uab.edu/ccts/	1
Home - Staff Councilwww.uab.edu/staffcouncil/	1
Home - School of Public Healthwww.uab.edu/soph/home/	1

Ensure form controls have labels

University of Alabama at Birmingham

Where this issue has occurred