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Re: Name, Role, Value and Labels or Instructions techniques...

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From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Mar 29, 2015 11:28AM

This is not a fail under 4.1.2, because the title attribute is a valid
way to determine the accessible name according to the accessible name
calculation algorithm
http://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria/roles#namecalculation
(if link does not take you directly to that section, it is section 5.2.7).
It is the last fallback for determining the accessible name, but it is
a valid option.
If it always 100% matches/communicates all the same information as the
visible text label, I would have a hard time calling it under 3.3.2 or
1.3.1. But if the on-screen text provides any additional info, such as
format of input, input restrictions, or any other useful info not
duplicated in title, 3.3.2 can be used.
I would always call a best practice problem under 1.3.1 because
visible text should be associated with having on-screen instructions
that are not connected with the form field.
Duplicating label in the title attribute for a form field is risky
because on-screen instructions can often be changed or updated and
people may forget to make the corresponding change to the title
attribute.
There are two ways to associated on-screen label with form field.
Explicit/implicit labeling using the label tag (explicit with a
for="id" association, implicit if form field and text are both wrapped
in a single label tag.
This has the advantage that mouse users can click anywhere on the
label to get focus into the form field.
The other is aria-labelledby conection from form field to the id of
the label text container.

Cheers



On 3/29/15, Sean Keegan < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I am reviewing a web application that has many form fields that are using
> the title attribute. To add to this, there is on-screen text for nearly all
> the form fields but the <label> tag is not used consistently. It appears
> that the title attribute was used initially to provide supplemental
> information and then became more of a support for screen-readers.
>
> I considered this is a fail under 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value) and 3.3.2
> (Labels and Instructions). It was pointed out to me that the technique H65
> allows for the title attribute for form fields and this satisfies the
> "programmatically determined" requirement as well as provides the relevant
> instructions. I say shenanigans as the second part of the H65 technique
> uses the phrase "when the label element cannot be used."
>
> Any thoughts/comments from those all-knowing in the ways of WCAG?
>
> (I know there are other limitations to the use of the title attribute for
> form controls, but the discussion is centering on the WCAG 2.0 language and
> aforementioned technique)
>
> Take care,
> Sean
> > > > >


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