WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Visible labels for link, combobox and button?

for

From: Steve Green
Date: Aug 10, 2020 6:11PM

If that is the case (and I don't accept that it is), it seems curious that of the 16 examples and "sufficient techniques", there is not one that involves an image or icon. It doesn't look like the authors had anything in mind other than text labels.

The definition of a label is yet another example of bad authoring in WCAG. It states "A label is presented to all users", yet it also states that a label can be an "other component with a text alternative", which is therefore not presented to all users. So is a label presented to all users or not? The answer seems to be both yes and no.

The "understanding" page contains a couple of references to "clear and unambiguous labels and instructions". A handful of images and icons are sufficiently common that they might meet this description, but most are not. And people with cognitive impairment or low experience might not even recognise the common ones.

Steve


-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > On Behalf Of Patrick H. Lauke
Sent: 10 August 2020 23:58
To: <EMAIL REMOVED>
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Visible labels for link, combobox and button?



On 10/08/2020 17:01, Steve Green wrote:
> I cannot find anything in SC 3.3.2 that allows the use of images or icons as labels, and I always report that as a non-conformance.

I don't see anything in 3.3.2 that DISallows the use of images or icons as labels. And in fact, the normative definition of label suggests that an image/icon with an appropriate text alternative counts as a label

"label
text or other component with a text alternative that is presented to a user to identify a component within Web content"
https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/#dfn-labels

--
Patrick H. Lauke

https://www.splintered.co.uk/ | https://github.com/patrickhlauke https://flickr.com/photos/redux/ | https://www.deviantart.com/redux
twitter: @patrick_h_lauke | skype: patrick_h_lauke