WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Alignment of Labels in forms

for

From: Christopher Nagle
Date: Sep 17, 2008 7:20AM

Hello,

Is it terms of accessibility and usability, is it better to align labels
close to the inputs they correspond to i.e. right aligned or is it
better to have them be lined up evenly against the side of the
containing element i.e. left aligned? I have been right aligning my
labels so they are closer to the input elements they correspond to so
people who have problems with spacial orientation or people who use
screen magnifiers with a significant amount of magnification can more
easily see which labels go with which fields. Though someone recently
asked me to left align the labels in a form. Here's an example of what
I mean.

Left aligned:
Name: ______________
E-mail: ______________
Last year of Certification: ______

Right algined:
Name: _______________
E-mail: _______________
Last year of certification: _____

Or should I just exclude the last line when aligning the fields:
Name: ____________
E-mail: ____________
Las year of certification: _____

Thanks in advance!
Christopher Nagle

--
Christopher Nagle
Web Specialist
ICI / UMass, Boston
http://www.nercve.org/
http://www.communityinclusion.org/