| UCLA Extension

Public Affairs Courses & Certificates | UCLA Extension

Accounting & Finance Courses & Certificates | UCLA Extension

Education Courses & Certificates | UCLA Extension

Engineering Courses & Certificates | UCLA Extension

Legal Programs Courses & Certificates | UCLA Extension

Computer Science Courses & Certificates | UCLA Extension

Environmental Studies Courses & Certificates | UCLA Extension

Sciences & Math Courses & Certificates | UCLA Extension

Communications Courses & Certificates | UCLA Extension

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

University of California Los Angeles Extension

	Title / URL	Issues
	\| UCLA Extensionwww.uclaextension.edu/search/courses	20
	Public Affairs Courses & Certificates \| UCLA Extensionwww.uclaextension.edu/public-affairs	5
	Accounting & Finance Courses & Certificates \| UCLA Extensionwww.uclaextension.edu/accounting-finance	5
	Education Courses & Certificates \| UCLA Extensionwww.uclaextension.edu/education	5
	Engineering Courses & Certificates \| UCLA Extensionwww.uclaextension.edu/engineering	5
	Legal Programs Courses & Certificates \| UCLA Extensionwww.uclaextension.edu/legal-programs	5
	Computer Science Courses & Certificates \| UCLA Extensionwww.uclaextension.edu/computer-science	5
	Environmental Studies Courses & Certificates \| UCLA Extensionwww.uclaextension.edu/environmental-studies	5
	Sciences & Math Courses & Certificates \| UCLA Extensionwww.uclaextension.edu/sciences-math	5
	Communications Courses & Certificates \| UCLA Extensionwww.uclaextension.edu/communications	5

Ensure form controls have labels

University of California Los Angeles Extension

Where this issue has occurred