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Re: Does every field need a label in this instance?

for

From: glen walker
Date: Feb 4, 2023 10:04AM

Do you have a mockup as an example we can look at?

Reading various articles about the guidelines can be helpful but it's
always best to start at the source, WCAG itself.

1.3.1 Info and Relationships might come into play if there's a
"relationship" between fields and their labels that a sighted user can
discern but does not have the appropriate HTML to establish that
relationship.

2.4.6 Headings and Labels does not require headings or labels but says if
you have them, they should be descriptive.

3.3.2 Labels or Instructions is your main guidance here. It says "Labels
or instructions are provided when content requires user input." Notice the
second tiny word, "or". You are required to have labels OR instructions
for your input fields. You can certainly have both, and that's usually
helpful, but the requirement is to have one or the other. If your
instructions are clear what the input fields are for, then you don't
necessarily have to have visible labels for all the fields. It's rare that
you wouldn't want visible labels, but there are occasions where it's
appropriate.

Now we all know that WCAG is a baseline minimum and that even satisfying
all of WCAG, while making the app accessible, might not make it usable. It
sounds like that's where you are. You might be technically satisfying WCAG
but want to make sure the experience is better than the minimum requirement.

It sounds like you are describing a table or grid of input fields and that
the table can grow. WebAIM has an article about labeling tables of input
fields:

https://webaim.org/techniques/forms/advanced#multiple