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Re: Do you need to have a label on a form field when it has a default value?

for

From: Patrick H. Lauke
Date: Sep 13, 2010 1:36PM


On 13/09/2010 20:15, Jukka K. Korpela wrote:
>> It is needed at the very least for screen readers.
>
> No it isn't. Screen readers do just fine if you have text describing the
> input field before the field. If they don't, the screen reader, rather than
> the document, should be regarded as faulty.

Just to jump in here: you are talking about the heuristics that screen
readers use to guess what text refers to an input without any explicit
label associated with it. All screenreaders handle proper labels
unambiguously (and then the label text, if need be, can be placed
before/after/anywhere...which depending on layout may be necessary). Why
propose not to use label markup and rely on heuristics?

P
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Patrick H. Lauke