RE: label vs aria-labelledby

From: http://www.w3.org/WAI/PF/aria-practices/
> The aria-labelledby property can be used to label all visual objects,
however it should be noted that (X)HTML provides a @for attribute on the
label element which is used to label form controls. Use this attribute
where possible and valid. Because the aria-labelledby attribute accepts
multiple IDREFs, it is recommended that authors use aria-labelledby for
labeling elements that require more than one label string.

I would use the label element where possible first based on my read of the
authoring guidelines.

Jonathan

-----Original Message-----
From: w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org] On
Behalf Of Greg Kraus
Sent: Monday, June 27, 2011 10:03 AM
To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Subject: label vs aria-labelledby

Hi All,

In 4.1.1 Labelling

http://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria-practices/#relations_labeling

It says, "It should be noted that (X)HTML provides a <label for>
element which you can use to label form controls. For all visual
objects, including (X)HTML form elements, you should use the WAI-ARIA
aria-labelledby property for labeling."

Does this mean that in all cases for forms we should be using
aria-labelledby to properly label input elements even when
aria-labelled by is not needed? If so, does that mean we need to use
both the label element and the aria-labelledby attribute? Currently,
if you use both the label and aria-labelled by, JAWS speaks the label
twice. It is the only major screen reader that has this behavior - all
of the others only speak the label once.

Thanks.

Greg

--
Greg Kraus
University IT Accessibility Coordinator
Office of Information Technology
North Carolina State University
919.513.4087

Received on Monday, 27 June 2011 14:21:12 UTC