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Re: proper use of labels

for

From: Christian Heilmann
Date: Jun 13, 2005 12:13PM

> > Am I being overly rigid? Or am I correct in sticking with the W3C's
> > label = text [CS] ?
>
> I don't think there is a problem with having non-text labels. The W3C
> links you refer to (if I'm able to understand the W3C-speak correctly)
> only require that the label ATTRIBUTE of the OPTION and OPTGROUP tags be
> text. I don't see anything in the specs that require the contents of the
> label ELEMENT to be text-only.
>
> Still, it comes down to testing. Your example works flawlessly in Home
> Page Reader. Though JAWS doesn't like my computer, I imagine it too will
> work, though it will likely identify the presence of the image, which may
> be slightly confusing. There is also the lost usability of those of us who
> can see not being able to tell what the drop-down is actually for (unless
> an adjacent button is labeled "Quick Search"). Also, we lose the ability
> to click the label and have focus placed on the form element. With that
> said, I don't see this as being a problem, though others will likely chime in.

The question is why you add labels, to increase the usability and make
the pages more accessible to end users or to pass an automated test?

As you already pointed out, the great thing about labels - telling
what an interactive element is and increasing the area that can be
activated - is not given with this hack. I'd call it catering for a
special user group rather than making sites accessible for everyone.

It is the same problem with skip links - a proper document structure
will render them unnecessary, but instead of considering that approach
many developers use them and make things worse by rendering them
invisible.

--
Chris Heilmann
Blog: http://www.wait-till-i.com
Writing: http://icant.co.uk/
Binaries: http://www.onlinetools.org/