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Are fieldset and legend still relevant?

for

From: Lynn Holdsworth
Date: Dec 30, 2014 5:00AM


Hi all,

I'm just going through WebAIM's invaluable list of checkpoints, and
found this one under 1.3.1: Info and relationships:

' Text labels are associated with form input elements. Related form
elements are grouped with fieldset/legend.

Rather than using fieldset and legend to group form elements, for a
while now I've been using CSS and ARIA labels.

Fieldsets were always pretty flaky with screenreaders. I have my JAWS
setting set to advanced, and so legends don't get read out as I tab
through the elements inside a fieldset. But ARIA labels do. And they
get read out in the order that the developer deems most sensible.

If I use both legends and ARIA labels, some users must listen to the
labels twice, sometimes once before and once after the info about the
element with focus, which could get pretty confusing for beginners.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this one.

Cheers, Lynn