Rules · label
Failure reference
Form fields without a programmatic label.
A placeholder is not a label — it vanishes the moment someone types. Fields without programmatic labels are announced as "edit text, blank" and are unfillable by voice.
What fails — and who it fails
The failure, in plain language.
Search boxes, newsletter signups and checkout fields shipped with only a placeholder or a nearby heading. Assistive technology needs the association in the markup, not in the visual layout.
Detection — what the machine can and cannot judge
How the scanner finds it.
- Every input, select and textarea is checked for an accessible name: <label for>, aria-label, aria-labelledby or wrapping label.
- Placeholder-only and title-only fields are flagged — both are announced inconsistently and disappear in use.
- What automation cannot judge: whether the label text makes sense in context — that stays with the human review.
The legal reading — factual, not fearful
Where this sits in enforcement.
Forms are where accessibility failures become transaction failures, and checkout flows are the sector priority regulators name first for e-commerce. Field labeling is among the first items checked in guided audits precisely because it blocks purchases outright.
The fix — by pattern
2 patterns cover nearly every instance.
- <input type="email" placeholder="E-Mail eingeben">
+ <label for="nl-email">E-Mail</label>
<input id="nl-email" type="email" autocomplete="email">+ <input type="search" aria-label="Produkte durchsuchen">Fix the template, not the page — one change typically clears every instance at once. The triage engine groups findings by template pattern for exactly that reason.
Verification — resolution is evidence, not a checkbox
Fixed means a scan said so.
On monitored domains, mark the finding fixed and the next scan verifies it: zero remaining instances converts the finding to Resolved, and both the claim and the confirmation land in the append-only ledger. Criteria that need human judgement close through sign-off in the coverage matrix — covered by the right method, never by assumption.
Related failures:
See where your templates stand.
A complimentary assessment renders up to 25 public pages in an EU-hosted browser and shows every instance of this failure — grouped, ranked, and honest about what still needs a human.