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Re: proper use of labels

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From: CFIT@list.webaim.org:Joshue O Connor
Date: Jun 16, 2005 3:55AM

Hi All,

I just wish to make a quick comment- I think the title attribute is
potentially very useful but there are issues with it.

> <label for="date">todays date (dd-mm-yy): <input type="text"
> name="date" id="date" title="enter todays date as two numbers each for
> day, month and year, separated by a dash." /></label>

The above code is fine and I have used the title attribute in a similar
way in some of my own projects but I wouldn't exclusively rely on it for
the following reason. IMO What is being said via the title attribute is
,in this example, important for the user to know in order to understand
how to enter the date. You cant assume a user knows what dd-mm-yy means
whereas :

> enter todays date as two numbers each for
> day, month and year, separated by a dash


explains it very well. However, as Christian points out:

> in screen readers you need to specifically
>tell the reader to read out title attributes
>
For example in JAWS the HTML Options are highly configurable so the user
can give preference to whether alt tags, title attributes etc are read
or not. So they may choose not to read title attributes at all. So you
cant rely on it.

>what the W3c have to say about the title
>> attribute:
>> "This attribute offers advisory information about the element for which
>> it is set"
>> (see: http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/global.html#adef-title)
>

So the title attribute is there for "advisory information" and this may
be a bit of a gray area - as you have to then decide what information is
"advisory" and what is "important" - in order to use the form etc
correctly. Strictly speaking if something is "advisory" it could be
"important" - in order to "advise" the user how to use the form. Maybe
more importance or visibility should be given to the title element by
User Agents - But I may be skating on thin ice here!!

To sum up - IMO It is not good practice to rely on the title element for
information that is important for the user for the above reason. Having
said that though I do think the title attribute is very useful and can
be used, if a screen reader picks up on it fine, if not fine, just make
sure you don't put anything in their that they *need* to know.

Joshue O Connor

Web Accessibility Consultant

**Centre for Inclusive Technology (CFIT)* *
National Council for the Blind of Ireland

<EMAIL REMOVED> +353 1 8821915