w3c/wai-tutorials

Provide clarification on hiding label text

angelawolak opened this issue · 1 comments

The Hiding label text section of the forms tutorial uses the example of a search bar without a visible label, stating that the purpose of the field is evident from the context. I think this makes sense and is certainly a common practice, but it seems to conflict with some of the guidance for WCAG success criterion 3.3.2: Labels or Instructions:

It is possible for controls and inputs to have an appropriate accessible name or description (e.g. using aria-label="...") and therefore pass Success Criterion 4.1.2, but to still fail this Success Criterion (if the labels or instructions aren't presented to all users, not just those using assistive technologies).

Would it be possible to add a bit more language here to clarify if hiding the label will cause a failure of 3.3.2?

See https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Techniques/general/G167. So the example is no failure due to the "search" button