RE: Tests 186, 187, 188, 189,

I (Yvette) wrote 
> 
> David MacDonald recommended to accept HTML test 187:
> INPUT element must have only one associated LABEL. [1] 
>  
> Are there any accessibility problems with having two labels 
> associated with the same input element? To me it would that 
> problems only occur if the wrong label is associated, but 
> that's true if only 1 label is associated as well.
> Multiple labels are permitted by the HTML spec and used 
> wisely it can actually benefit accessibility. Based on this, 
> I would like to reject this test.
> 

Roberto Scano replied:
> There is a problem for label esplicit association. The "for" 
> attribute refer to the ID and HTML spec don't authorize to 
> use more than one ID per page.

We're not talking about having multiple identical IDs, but having multiple
labels that belong to the same ID. So you wouldn't have the same ID twice,
you only refer to it twice. For example:

<label for="input1">First label describing option 1</label><input
id="input1" type="radio" value="1"><label for="input1">Second label
describing option 1</label>. This does not violate HTML spec and can have
accessibility benefits.


> 
> Yvette:
> A real-world example: a content management system we built 
> allowed the user to choose between two images. We used 
> radiobuttons placed below the images to make the selection. 
> One radiobutton had a text to it that read something like 
> 'use old photograph', the other 'use new photograph'. 
> We chose to use both the image (where the alt text described 
> the image) and the text as labels. This way, the user could 
> either click the image or the text below it to make a 
> selection, providing a larger click target for people with 
> limited motor functions. Also, it made sure that both the 
> alt-text of the image and the meaning of the radio button (to use that
> image) were associated with the radio button.
> 
> Roberto Scano:
> Put the input inside a fieldset.

I do not understand what this has to do with associating multiple labels
with the same input.

Yvette Hoitink
Heritas, Enschede, the Netherlands
E-mail: y.p.hoitink@heritas.nl
WWW: http://www.heritas.nl

Received on Wednesday, 10 August 2005 16:42:21 UTC