Re: form controls to the left or right of labels?

I do wish we could find a way to phrase this that separates the appearance on 
the page from the way the information is presented to or by the screen reader. 
For instance, in PDF, I can place the label before the radio button in the 
structure tree, even though the checkbox is to the left of the label. I 
realize that mark-up languages may not have this flexibility.

	Loretta

> 
> I would say this does violate the guideline, as from my perspective I
> would expect that the reasoning behind this checkpoint is for people
> using screen-readers: they need to know what the option is before they
> select it. So for example, having the radio button to the left of the
> text would mean the screen-reader would read "Radio button unchecked. 1
> pack. Radio button unchecked. 2 packs" etc.=20
> 
> =2D----Original Message-----
> From: Mathew.Mirabella [mailto:Mathew.Mirabella@team.telstra.com]
> Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2001 11:41 AM
> To: w3c-wai-gl
> Subject: form controls to the left or right of labels?
> 
> 
> All.
> 
> According to WCAG 1.0, labels for form controls should appear immediatly=
> 
> before the control (or above it if there is only one control on the
> line).
> This usually means the label should appear just to the left of the
> control.
> 
> This is fine for text entry fields and boxes and pull-down menus.
> However,
> for checkboxes and radio buttons, you often want to place the label to
> the
> right of the checkbox or radio button.  Does doing this violate the
> guideline?
> 
> What are the current views of people on this issue.
> 
>

Received on Thursday, 13 December 2001 20:42:05 UTC