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From: Michael Roush
Date: May 19, 2005 2:22PM


I'm working on a site for an organization that has decided they want the site to conform to AA level of the WCAG 1.0. Furthermore, they want a demonstration of that conformance by passing the page through WAVE [3.0] and getting no 'red flags'.

On the page, I am including a sign-up form that they requested. WAVE asked me to supply a label for one of the form controls (the submit button). Presumably, the value of the Submit button is not enough of a description/label. In order to satisfy the checker, I put in a text label for the Submit button and styled the label with "display: none;" so that it wouldnt show up. Now the checker is satisfied, but I am having a hard time believing this makes the page more understandable and accessible.

Is there a technique I'm missing that I should be using? Is this just one of those instances where conforming to a guideline may mean a reduction in accessibility?


Michael D. Roush, Technology Consultant
Hopewell SERRC