Jon, If you read that spec yourself you will see: "To associate a label with another control implicitly, the control element must be within the contents of the LABEL element."
However that is the HTML4 spec of what is valid, not the WCAG spec for what is advisable (which I have quoted before) and shall paraphrase again: "Use explicit labels with all input elements" The purpose of markup is NOT just to convey structure, it is also sometimes used to convey functionality, which as I said before is why forms are more difficult than plain content. I agree that the semantic purpose of a label is as a description, but here the funtional purpose is more important, and that is (again quoting the HTML spec): "When a LABEL element receives focus, it passes the focus on to its associated control." In Internet explorer, clicking on an explicit label does this, but not for an implicit label. Can you explain why you think that you can ignore the behaviour of what is (unfortunatly) still the dominant browser, on which plenty of AT products rely? Regards, Mike -----Original Message----- From: listdad@webstandardsgroup.org on behalf of Jon Gunderson Sent: Wed 14/06/2006 14:31 To: wsg@webstandardsgroup.org Subject: Re: [WSG] Accessible Forms - Columnar and Grid Does anyone have an example of some accessible forms Michael, You may also want to check the W3C specifications on the use of the LABEL element: http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/interact/forms.html#edef-LABEL There is no concept in the specification of implicit relationship between a LABEL element being "next to" a form control. You need to use the FOR attribute or encapsulate to define the relationship between a LABEL and a form control. Jon On 6/14/06, Jon Gunderson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > On 6/14/06, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > wrote: > > > > Jon, > > I think you mis-understand me, most of your form controls do have a > > label, just not properly used. > > > > What you are calling 'encapsulation' does not work in IE, as another > > member pointed out after me; the association with the form element is due > > only to proximity, so is merely 'implicit'. > > Some of the other labels use what you are referring to as 'label by > > reference' which tells the browser 'explicitly' which form element the label > > refers to, but for some reason not all of the labels have been done this > > way. > > > I am not sure what you mean "does not work". What does not work in IE? > > The purpose of markup is convey structure and IE is not the only browser > in the world. Screen readers use encapsulated labels. > > In the case of the checkbox grids for question 10,11,12, the labels have > > been hidden, which prevents them being useful for anyone not using a sub-set > > of AT browsers - a tiny percentage of users! > > > The hidden lables are again for compatibility with screen readers and for > technologies that do not support stylesheets or tables (i.e. LYNX). > > > > ****************************************************** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list & getting help ****************************************************** ****************************************************** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list & getting help ******************************************************
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