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

Well, PDF is a markup language. Some others have the same flexibility, some
do not.

We have a technique for doing this in HTML, using the label element. It
relies on the manufacturers implementing the specifications - otherwise we
have to guess what they will implement and try to code that instead, which
leads to a mess.

If the group could decide that user agents now associate labels with form
controls, the checkpoint would no longer be applicable anyway. Do we have
some data and a way of determining how to make the decision?

cheers

Chaals

On Thu, 13 Dec 2001, Loretta Guarino Reid wrote:

  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.
  >
  >


-- 
Charles McCathieNevile    http://www.w3.org/People/Charles  phone: +61 409 134 136
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative     http://www.w3.org/WAI    fax: +1 617 258 5999
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Received on Friday, 14 December 2001 03:00:23 UTC