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Re: Do screen readers read title attirbute if there is no label tag on form elements?

for

From: Angela French
Date: Apr 19, 2011 3:39PM

Thank you. I thought the reading for the title attribute was configurable (or not supported) by some screen readers, thus a <label> tag would provide more assurance of accessibility.



Hi Angela,
browsers map title attribute content to the accessible name property in Accessibility APIs if a label element is not associated with a control. If the label element is associated and the title element is present on the control, generally the title is then mapped to the accessible description property in accessibility APIs, so AT will generally read the accessible name value provided by browsers regardless of the source of its content.

so

example 1

<input type="text" name="num2" title="Enter your 3 digit phone exchange" />

the accessible name for the control is "Enter your 3 digit phone exchange" from the title

example 2

<label for="num2">phone number</label> <input type="text" name="num2"
title="Enter your 3 digit phone exchange" id="num2" />

the accessible name for the control is "phone number" from the label the accessible description for the control is "Enter your 3 digit phone exchange" from the title.

Note: the accessible description is not well supported in older AT




>
>
> Is the following true?   " Assistive technology looks for the <label> element, but if it isn't provided, they will read the title attribute."
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>
> I had never heard/read this before.
>
>
> Angela French
> Internet Specialist
> State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
> 360-704-4316
> <EMAIL REMOVED>
> http://www.checkoutacollege.com<;http://www.checkoutacollege.com/>;
>
>