What counts as an accessible name for a form control?

Any one of: a wrapping or for/id-associated with text, an aria-label, an aria-labelledby pointing at existing non-empty text, or a title attribute. A placeholder does NOT count.

Why isn't a placeholder a valid label?

Placeholders disappear as soon as the user types, have poor contrast, and are not reliably announced by all assistive tech. WCAG 1.3.1 and 3.3.2 require a persistent label, so the checker flags placeholder-only controls.

Which WCAG criteria does this address?

Primarily 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (label associations must be programmatic) and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (every control must expose an accessible name). 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions is closely related.

Do checkboxes and radio buttons need labels too?

Yes. Every checkbox, radio, text field, select and textarea needs an accessible name. Grouped radios and checkboxes additionally benefit from a and , but each control still needs its own label.

Is my form HTML sent anywhere?

No. The markup is parsed entirely in your browser with the native HTML parser. Nothing is uploaded, so you can check internal or unreleased forms safely.

Form Label & Accessible-Name Checker

Unlabelled form fields are the single most common accessibility defect on the web. A sighted user infers a field’s purpose from nearby text; a screen-reader user hears only “edit text, blank” and has no idea what to type. This checker parses your form markup and flags every input, select and textarea that lacks a programmatically-associated accessible name — directly addressing WCAG 1.3.1 and 4.1.2.

How it works

The tool parses your pasted HTML with the browser’s native parser, then for each form control it looks for an accessible name from any of the valid sources, in the order assistive technology uses them:

A <label> associated by for/id, or a <label> wrapping the control, that contains text.
An aria-label attribute with text.
An aria-labelledby attribute pointing at one or more existing elements that contain text.
A title attribute with text.

If none of these is present, the control is flagged. A placeholder alone is treated as a failure, because placeholders are not accessible names — the tool explicitly calls that case out so you do not mistake a placeholder for a label. Controls that intrinsically need no label (hidden, submit, reset, button) are handled separately, and image inputs are checked for alt text.

Example

<!-- PASS: label associated by for/id -->
<label for="email">Email</label>
<input id="email" type="email">

<!-- FAIL: placeholder is not a label -->
<input type="text" placeholder="Search">

<!-- PASS: wrapping label -->
<label>Country <select name="country">...</select></label>

Tips

Prefer a visible <label> with for/id over aria-label. Visible labels help everyone, including users with cognitive and motor disabilities, not just screen-reader users.
Group related radios and checkboxes in a <fieldset> with a <legend> so the question (the group label) is announced alongside each option.
Re-run the checker after any form refactor — moving markup around is the easiest way to silently break a for/id association.
All parsing happens locally in your browser; nothing leaves your device.