Find an expert | University of Surrey

First time visit: View without clicking anything

University of Surrey

Student life | University of Surrey

University of Surrey news | University of Surrey

Postgraduate study | University of Surrey

Undergraduate study | University of Surrey

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

	Title / URL	Issues
	Find an expert \| University of Surreywww.surrey.ac.uk/news/experts	50
	First time visit: View without clicking anythingwww.surrey.ac.uk/	2
	University of Surreywww.surrey.ac.uk/	2
	Student life \| University of Surreywww.surrey.ac.uk/student-life	1
	University of Surrey news \| University of Surreywww.surrey.ac.uk/news?page=6	1
	University of Surrey news \| University of Surreywww.surrey.ac.uk/news	1
	University of Surrey news \| University of Surreywww.surrey.ac.uk/news?page=7	1
	University of Surrey news \| University of Surreywww.surrey.ac.uk/news?page=1	1
	Postgraduate study \| University of Surreywww.surrey.ac.uk/postgraduate-study	1
	Undergraduate study \| University of Surreywww.surrey.ac.uk/undergraduate-study	1

Fix missing ARIA label IDs

University of Surrey

Where this issue has occurred