Re: Question re: WCAG2.0, Requirement 3.3.2

Charles is correct. There is no requirement that the labels be in any place.  the ONLY requirement is the Success Criteria. 



 Techniques are NEVER requirements.   They are just one technique.   If they are specified in the understanding document as "WG feels they are sufficient"  it means just that.  The working group feels that this TECHNIQUE is sufficient to meet the Success Criteria (or some part of it) as specified.     
	- it does NOT mean that it is the ONLY way to meet the SC
	- therefore it can NEVER mean that it is required.
	
It also does NOT mean that there are no other ways to meet the SC.    There may be other ways - ways that are not listed in any of the techniques.  In fact the working group is continually developing and reviewing techniques sent in by others and adding them to the techniques document.   There will be a revisions released soon adding scores of new techniques.


NOTE: that the test at the end of the technique is a test of whether the TECHNIQUE AS WRITTEN has been met.   But the technique is not required to meet the SC.  it is only one known and recognized way to meet the SC. 

The ONLY things that are required are the Success Criteria. 

Does this help?


Gregg
--------------------------------------------------------
Gregg Vanderheiden Ph.D.
Director Trace R&D Center
Professor Industrial & Systems Engineering
and Biomedical Engineering
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Co-Director, Raising the Floor - International
and the Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure Project
http://Raisingthefloor.org   ---   http://GPII.net








On Jun 15, 2011, at 2:33 AM, Charles McCathieNevile wrote:

> Hi Phil,
> 
> On Wed, 15 Jun 2011 09:01:11 +0200, Phil Evans <pae9@star.le.ac.uk> wrote:
> ...
>> "3.3.2 Labels or Instructions: Labels or instructions are provided when content requires user input. (Level A) "
>> 
>> This seems straightforward enough. However, following via the link "How to meet 3.3.2" leads to the page:
>> http://www.w3.org/TR/2010/NOTE-WCAG20-TECHS-20101014/H44
>> 
>> which includes the line, 'Note that the label is positioned after input elements of type="checkbox" and type="radio".'
>> 
>> It is not clear to me whether this is a *requirement* or not (although the validator I am using assumes it is). That is, is the following part of a form OK or not?
> 
> The text is part of an old requirement (written when implementation of <label> wasn't very good) which called for *consistent* placement of labels in relation to controls, and suggested that the *common* pattern for checkboxes was to place text after them.
> 
> While you should certainly ensure that you layout is consistent, I don't think you need to worry so much whether your labels are typically before or after the thing they are labeling (so long as they have proper markup they are likely to be useful in most modern software).
> 
> IMHO, of course
> 
> cheers
> 
> Chaals
> 
> -- 
> Charles McCathieNevile  Opera Software, Standards Group
>    je parle français -- hablo español -- jeg lærer norsk
> http://my.opera.com/chaals       Try Opera: http://www.opera.com
>