Colchester Campus | University of Essex

Life at the University of Essex | University of Essex

Benefits | University of Essex

Religion, faith and worship facilities | University of Essex

News | University of Essex

Employment contracts | University of Essex

Undergraduate prospectus. | University of Essex

Sports and facilities | University of Essex

Summer Schools, Short Courses and CPD | University of Essex

Working at the University of Essex | University of Essex

When specifying accessible names via `aria-labelledby`, ensure that the 
label elements exist.

## Explanation

Accessible names are required for many parts of a page, including form controls.
One way to accomplish this is to use `aria-labelledby` to specify the ID or IDs of 
other elements which contain a label. For example:

```html
<h2 id="dialog-labell">Important message!</h2>
<dialog aria-labelledby="dialog-label">
```

In this example, the `aria-labelledby` for the `<dialog>` points to an ID of `dialog-label`,
which doesn't exist. The heading it refers to instead has an ID of `dialog-labell`, presumably 
a typo.

## Why this matters

It isn't usually clear when an accessible name is broken, even during user testing.

This check helps to identify where an element clearly intended to have a label, but
that label is missing.

When a label is broken, it may be impossible for a user of assistive technologies
to understand what that element does.

missing-aria-labelled-by

February 2026

January 2026

University of Essex

Title / URL	Issues
Colchester Campus \| University of Essexwww.essex.ac.uk/life/colchester-campus	4
Life at the University of Essex \| University of Essexwww.essex.ac.uk/life	4
Benefits \| University of Essexwww.essex.ac.uk/jobs/benefits	3
Religion, faith and worship facilities \| University of Essexwww.essex.ac.uk/life/religion-and-faith	3
News \| University of Essexwww.essex.ac.uk/news?page=2	3
Employment contracts \| University of Essexwww.essex.ac.uk/staff/contracts	3
Undergraduate prospectus. \| University of Essexwww.essex.ac.uk/undergraduate/prospectus	3
Sports and facilities \| University of Essexwww.essex.ac.uk/sport/facilities	3
Summer Schools, Short Courses and CPD \| University of Essexwww.essex.ac.uk/short-courses	3
Working at the University of Essex \| University of Essexwww.essex.ac.uk/jobs	3

Fix missing ARIA label IDs

University of Essex

Where this issue has occurred