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Fix library · Accessibility

Form fields that nobody can identify

Placeholder text inside a box looks tidy and disappears the moment someone types, taking with it the only clue about what the field was for. For a visitor using a screen reader it was never there at all. When this is on your contact form, it means some people cannot contact you.

Accessibility Medium at worst 1 finding covered

Medium

Form fields with no label

What SEOPert detected

One or more form fields have no associated label.

What this means

Form fields without labels can’t be understood by screen readers, so some visitors can’t contact you.

How to fix it

  1. Make sure every form field has a visible label (e.g. “Email address”) rather than only placeholder text.
  2. In most form builders, turn on “Show label” for each field.

If you are handing this to a developer

Associate a <label for> with each control, or add aria-label / aria-labelledby.

Check it worked. Click each field’s label: the cursor should jump into the field. Re-run your audit to confirm.

Label a form field for everybody A 30-second exercise. One line is the problem — see whether you would catch it.

Related

Read next

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