ACT Rule e086e5
Form field has non-empty accessible name
This checks that every form field has a name of some kind. A label element, an aria-label, an aria-labelledby reference or a title attribute will all satisfy it.
A tool can decide this one on its own, which is why it turns up in scanner output. The rule is approved, which in W3C's process means it was implemented in full by at least one tool or methodology and then signed off by a working group. Approval is a statement about tools, not a statement that this is the settled way to test the criterion.
What passing this rule proves
When this rule fails, 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value is not satisfied, and that half is certain. When it passes, W3C's own outcome mapping says the criterion still needs further testing. So a green result here is evidence that one specific thing is not broken, and it is the answer W3C gives on 59 of its 87 live rules.
Placeholder text is where this gets expensive. A field with only a placeholder has an accessible name, so it passes this rule and satisfies 4.1.2, and the placeholder vanishes the moment somebody starts typing. The criterion that catches it is 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions, and 3.3.2 has no ACT rule at all. A checkout form can pass every published test for names and still lose the sale at the address line.
The criteria this rule is a test for
These are the criteria the rule names as its own conformance requirement. Each one is a far bigger question than this rule asks, and our page for it sets out what the whole criterion covers.
- 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value Level A
Criteria that are related but not tested here
W3C calls these secondary requirements. The rule correlates with them and was not designed to test them, so each one is either stricter than the rule or can be satisfied in ways the rule never looks at.
- 1.3.1 Info and Relationships Level A
- 2.5.3 Label in Name Level A
The normative rule text lives at W3C
What the rule applies to, and exactly what it expects, is published by W3C and can change. We link to it rather than restate it, so nothing here can quietly fall out of date against the source. Read rule e086e5 at W3C.
Every control needs a name that assistive technology can read
Every control has a name that assistive technology reads out. It is not always the text you see. The browser works it out in a fixed order. An aria-labelledby reference wins first, then aria-label, then the element's own content or its associated label, then a title attribute as a last resort.
A screen reader user moving through a page by control hears these names and nothing else. If the name is empty, they hear only the role. A button with no name is a button with no idea what it does.
Icon-only buttons are the common case. The icon carries the meaning visually and leaves nothing behind for the name. The control announces as just a button with no function described.
Fixes that satisfy it
If this rule fails on your site, these are the techniques that put it right.
Other rules W3C files under the same criteria
Each of these asks a different question about the same part of the standard. Passing all of them is still not the same as satisfying the criterion.
- Image button has non-empty accessible name A tool can check this
- Link has non-empty accessible name A tool can check this
- ARIA attribute is defined in WAI-ARIA A tool can check this
- ARIA state or property has valid value A tool can check this
- Element with role attribute has required states and properties A tool can check this
- Headers attribute specified on a cell refers to cells in the same table element A tool can check this
All 87 ACT rules are grouped by the criteria they test, and 24 of them decide nothing about WCAG on their own. Run a free scan to see which of these your own pages trip.