Accolades | University of California, Merced

Academics | University of California, Merced

Campus Life | University of California, Merced

Why UC Merced? | University of California, Merced

UC Merced Research | University of California, Merced

CITRIS | University of California, Merced

A 21st Century Experience | University of California, Merced

About UC Merced | Research University in California

University of California, Merced | First. Further. Forward.

History | University of California, Merced

To comply with WCAG 2.1, fields must identify what their purpose is _programmatically_. If done correctly,
this allows browsers to help users fill in forms with known information, such as their name and email address.

This is accomplished via the `autocomplete` attribute, which should be set to a 
[supported value](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Attributes/autocomplete) wherever
appropriate, e.g. 

```html
<label for="name">
  First Name
</label>
<input id="name" type="text" autocomplete="given-name">
```

For fields where `autocomplete` is not appropriate, e.g. due to security, or the field not matching the
specification, the specific field should be ignored.

## Methodology

* All fields which could support `autocomplete` (e.g. text fields)
  are checked. Other fields - like dropdown menus - are ignored.
* The [accessible name](https://www.w3.org/TR/accname-1.2/) of each field is considered. In most cases this
  will be the `<label>` for the field.
* If the name matches a known pattern the field 
  must have an appropriate `autocomplete` value specified.
  For example, an `<input>` with type `text` with a label of 
  "First Name" would be expected to have an autocomplete value 
  of `given-name` or similar.

Note that using `autocomplete="on"` is not sufficient to pass this check, a
specific named autocomplete value must be used. See the
[supported values](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Attributes/autocomplete).

## Troubleshooting

If a field is a false positive, check whether the field has an 
appropriate accessible name (i.e. a `<label>` or `aria-label`).

If the label is incorrect, Silktide may assume that the field 
requires `autocomplete` where it does not. You should fix the 
label to avoid this.

Otherwise, you can simply ignore the specific field.

## More information

* [How to use HTML 5.2 attributes](https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Techniques/html/H98)

identify-input-purpose

December 2025

November 2025

University of California Merced

Title / URL	Issues
Accolades \| University of California, Mercedwww.ucmerced.edu/accolades	5
Academics \| University of California, Mercedwww.ucmerced.edu/academics	5
Campus Life \| University of California, Mercedwww.ucmerced.edu/campus-life	5
Why UC Merced? \| University of California, Mercedwww.ucmerced.edu/why-ucmerced	5
UC Merced Research \| University of California, Mercedwww.ucmerced.edu/research	5
CITRIS \| University of California, Mercedwww.ucmerced.edu/citris	5
A 21st Century Experience \| University of California, Mercedwww.ucmerced.edu/experience	5
About UC Merced \| Research University in Californiawww.ucmerced.edu/about	5
University of California, Merced \| First. Further. Forward.www.ucmerced.edu/	5
History \| University of California, Mercedwww.ucmerced.edu/history	5

Identify the purpose of fields programmatically

University of California Merced

Where this issue has occurred