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WCAG and form labels

for

From: Jared Smith
Date: Aug 21, 2006 10:30AM

I received a question that came in from our site about WCAG 1.0 and
form labeling. There are two checkpoints that address this. 12.4
required explicit labels (using for/id association). 10.4 required
implicit form labeling (surrounding the form control with the label
element) UNTIL USER AGENTS supported explicit labeling (using for and
id to associate the control with the label). My interpretation of 1.0
is that explicit labeling should ALWAYS be used. I believe that
implicit labeling is no longer required under the "until user agents"
clause. Do you agree?

This meant that before the "until user agents" part was fulfilled, the
only way to meet WCAG 1.0 was to use for/id AND to surround the
control with the label element, right?

In researching, I found the WCAG 2.0 documentation -
http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/WD-WCAG20-HTML-TECHS-20050630/#label
- that again states that explicit labeling should always be present.
Great! It also states that implicit association is deprecated and
should NOT be used. So if my interpretation is correct, then a construct
like the following is not allowed in WCAG 2.0:

<label for="firstname">First Name
<input type="text" id="firstname">
</label>

In looking at the examples, it would appear this is implicit labeling
and as such is deprecated and shouldn't be used. I'm just wondering if
others have the same interpretation and if they think this is correct
or not. This is method that is prescribed by loads of accessibility sites.
It is also what was originally required by WCAG 1.0. So, either the WCAG
2.0 documentation needs to be changed or else we need to stop using this
method. Or maybe I'm missing something.

Jared Smith
WebAIM.org