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Re: using title attribute as form field label

for

From: Vincent Young
Date: Nov 8, 2011 3:48PM

John your implementation is pretty sexy. Lots of different ways to go
about this. I had some fun with it and came up with my own implementation:

http://webhipster.com/testing/accessibility/birthday/index.html

<form role="form" action="">
<div>
<label id="birthday" for="month">Birthday</label>
</div>
<div>
<input id="month" type="number" name="day" size="2"
aria-labelledby="birthday mm" />
<label id="mm" for="month"><abbr title="Two Digit
Month">MM</abbr></label>
</div>
<div>&nbsp;/&nbsp;</div>
<div>
<input id="day" type="number" name="day" size="2"
aria-labelledby="birthday dd" />
<label id="dd" for="day"><abbr title="Two Digit
Day">DD</abbr></label>
</div>
<div>&nbsp;/&nbsp;</div>
<div>
<input id="year" type="number" name="year" size="4"
aria-labelledby="birthday yyyy" />
<label id="yyyy" for="year"><abbr title="Four Digit
Year">YYYY</abbr></label>
</div>
</form>

If any interest, happy to discuss.

On Tue, Nov 8, 2011 at 1:53 PM, Steve Faulkner < <EMAIL REMOVED> >wrote:

> Hi Jared,
>
> you wrote:
>
> >There's nothing in HTML or accessibility specifications that tell AT
> >to use the title attribute as a label replacement.
>
> Besides what James has pointed out (ARIA implementation guide), it should
> be noted that there is no specification that tells user agents how many
> HTML features should be mapped and/or interpreted by the accessibility
> layer, thats what the HTML to Platform Accessibility APIs Implementation
> Guide
> http://dev.w3.org/html5/html-api-map/overview.html is starting to
> document.
> Note in the section titled accessible name and description calculation (
> http://dev.w3.org/html5/html-api-map/overview.html#calc) the title
> attribute is included in accessible name calculation. The main reason for
> this is that every browser maps the title attribute to the accessible name
> property in every accessibility API and have done so for many versions ( i
> would suggest for as long as they have had accessibility support).
>
> For AT that use information exposed via an accessibility API, it is the
> accessible name property they use regardless of whether the source of the
> name is from the label element, aria attribute, element content or title
> attribute.
>
> regards
> Stevef
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 8 November 2011 15:56, Jared Smith < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>
> > I have several concerns over the use of the title attribute value for
> > labeling controls:
> >
> > - It shouldn't be used if a visible text label is present on the page.
> > <label> should be used instead - it works in old browsers, and also
> > provides enhanced mouse accessibility, primarily for users with motor
> > disabilities.
> >
> > - As defined in the HTML spec, title attribute is for "advisory
> > information". If a form field is inaccessible without the title
> > attribute value, this sure sounds like more than "advisory
> > information".
> >
> > - There's nothing in HTML or accessibility specifications that tell AT
> > to use the title attribute as a label replacement. They just happen to
> > do this on their own. This behavior is really no different than IE
> > showing alt text in tooltips which everyone railed against as being a
> > violation of the spec. It makes me uncomfortable relying on the
> > non-standard quirks of screen readers for accessibility. As has been
> > noted, different screen readers treat the presentation of title
> > differently - and understandably so because a standard behavior is not
> > documented anywhere because the attribute is not even intended to work
> > this way.
> >
> >
> > With all of this said, it works relatively well. It just makes me
> > squirm a little bit. I tend to use off-screen <label> to ensure
> > accessibility in these situations.
> >
> > Jared
> >