E-mail List Archives
Thread: <label> element
Number of posts in this thread: 4 (In chronological order)
From: Leo Smith
Date: Thu, Mar 28 2002 1:52PM
Subject: <label> element
No previous message | Next message →
Hi folks,
Is it necessary to have the <label for=""> markup for form controls located
within the <form></form> tags. ( I have a label in a cell adjacent to a cell
with the form control in it).
I have not read anywhere that it is, and theoretically the <label> tag could
mark up a label located anywhere on the page, although visually you would
probably want it to be close to the control. It seems that the Bobby 508
checker likes to see the <label> markup inside the <form></form> tags.
However, when I ran one of my pages through its 508 checker
(http://www.cast.org/bobby/), it also said that it failed 508 compliance
because I had not placed default, place-holding characters in edit boxes
and text areas. I don't ever remember this being a 508 requirement (it is a
W3C III guideline, and if I remember correctly from discussion on this list,
one that is no longer necessarily a good idea.)
I guess if Bobby is giving me this kind of feedback on my pages, I cannot
take its evaluations too seriously. Unfortunately, such checkers can be
used by folks for evaluation purposes when they are either not able or do
not want to make the effort to manually check a page (*always* my
preferred method).
Leo.
{HYPERLINK "http://bobby.cast.org:80/bobby/html/en/gls/g109.html"}
Leo Smith
Web Designer/Developer
USM Office of Publications and Marketing
University of Southern Maine
207-780-4774
----
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or view list archives,
visit http://www.webaim.org/discussion/
From: Jim Thatcher
Date: Thu, Mar 28 2002 3:35PM
Subject: RE: <label> element
← Previous message | Next message →
My understanding is that the actual label (LABEL with for attribute) can be
anywhere, though I haven't checked it recently.
<quote> [Bobby] also said that it failed 508 compliance because I had not
placed default, place-holding characters in edit boxes and text areas. I
don't ever remember this being a 508 requirement </quote>
The Section 508 provision (1194.22(n)) basically says you have to make the
forms accessible to people using assistive technology, so it is open to
interpretation what this means. I agree that Bobby's interpretation
requiring "place holding characters" is a stretch.
Jim
Accessibility Consulting
There's a new book on Web Accessibility. For information:
http://jimthatcher.com.
From: Paul Bohman
Date: Thu, Mar 28 2002 3:58PM
Subject: RE: <label> element
← Previous message | Next message →
From: Paul Bohman
Date: Fri, Mar 29 2002 1:39PM
Subject: RE: <label> element
← Previous message | No next message
Ok, I need to post a correction:
In my last post I said that the LABEL tag "can be anywhere *within the
form tags*. The label tag means nothing outside of a form: it is a child
element of the form tag."
After receiving an off-list prompt from Jim Thatcher, I looked up the
HTML specs and it appears that LABEL tags can exist outside of FORM
tags. In fact, any form element (drop-down boxes, text input areas,
submit buttons, etc.) can exist outside of form tags, but they will
probably not work if the purpose of the form elements is to submit
information back to the server (and they will not show up at all in
Netscape 4.x). If you want the form to perform its proper function, the
form elements will need to be inside of the FORM tags, under most
circumstances.
So I guess you could put the LABEL tag anywhere on the page, not just
within the form. I still don't recommend it, but it appears that it can
be done.
Thanks Jim, for keeping me on my toes ;-)
Paul Bohman
Technology Coordinator
WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind)
www.webaim.org
Center for Persons with Disabilities
www.cpd.usu.edu
Utah State University
www.usu.edu
----
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or view list archives,
visit http://www.webaim.org/discussion/