Offices and Services – UNC System

Our Impact – UNC System

Research and Discovery – UNC System

Students – UNC System

Public Comment Submissions – UNC System

Leadership and Governance – UNC System

For Media – UNC System

Program and Degree Finder| UNC System

News Archive – UNC System

Contact the UNC System – UNC System

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

University of North Carolina

Title / URL	Issues
Offices and Services – UNC Systemwww.northcarolina.edu/offices-and-services/	10
Our Impact – UNC Systemwww.northcarolina.edu/impact/	9
Research and Discovery – UNC Systemwww.northcarolina.edu/impact/research-and-discovery/	9
Students – UNC Systemwww.northcarolina.edu/students/	4
Public Comment Submissions – UNC Systemwww.northcarolina.edu/leadership-and-governance/board-of-governors/meetings-materials/public-comment-sessions/	3
Leadership and Governance – UNC Systemwww.northcarolina.edu/leadership-and-governance/	2
For Media – UNC Systemwww.northcarolina.edu/for-media/	2
Program and Degree Finder\| UNC Systemwww.northcarolina.edu/apps/programs/index.php	1
News Archive – UNC Systemwww.northcarolina.edu/news-archive/	1
Contact the UNC System – UNC Systemwww.northcarolina.edu/contact/	1

Ensure form controls have labels

University of North Carolina

Where this issue has occurred