CODEWITHSUNDEEP
formspdfaccessibilityadobewcag2.0
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Reputation: 163

The case of long labels

I am working on a pdf form.

The labels for the multi line text field that were provided to me are really long, as an example (the text was modified from the original, so it might not make sense):

Indicate the goal of your project (maximum of 600 words): Clearly state what is the goal of your project , what issues you will be facing and the challenges ahead. Note: "buying a house" and other similar personal projects are not accepted. You have to define the specific elements of your goal.

In the tool tip of the text field, should I repeat the label in its entirety? Or do I assume that the screen reader will read all of this label and in the tool tip I can just write:

Indicate the goal of your project using a maximum of 600 words

In the courses that I followed, the instructor mentioned that we need to be as descriptive and helpful as we can in a tool tip, however, following some research on the topic, I understood that some blind users will read the label first, then fill in the field, so repeating the label in the tool tip is redundant.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 144

Answers (1)

QuentinC
QuentinC

Reputation: 14882

I can't help for PDF specifically, but clearly, the label should be limited to "Indicate the goal of your project (maximum of 600 words)". Otherwise it will be too long, given that it is repeated everytime you land on the field.

The rest is a very useful description, which shouldn't be part of the label, shouldn't be announced by default, but can be given to the user on request, or automatically after a pause of a few seconds.

I don't know how it looks like specifically in your case, but a tooltip is a common UI design way to implement such optional description available on request. A mouse user will request it by keeping the mouse over the field, while a screen reader will request it with a standard shortcut (for example, Ctrl+F1).

You shouldn't need to implement specific keyboard handling for that if you can use an equivalent of aria-describedby in PDF. I can't help on this side, sorry though.

In the tool tip of the text field, should I repeat the label in its entirety?

Your tooltip shouldn't repeat the label, but should contain the rest of the text, "Clearly state what is the goal of your project ..." in your case.

In the courses that I followed, the instructor mentioned that we need to be as descriptive and helpful as we can in a tool tip, however, following some research on the topic, I understood that some blind users will read the label first, then fill in the field, so repeating the label in the tool tip is redundant.

Repeating the label in the tooltip is indeed redundant.

If we summarize:

  • The label should stay short and very general, as it is repeated every time the user lands on the field, and sometimes every now and then while the user stays inactive on the field. Reading the whole description can quickly be annoying after a while (for example for an employee who may fill the form 100 times a day, or just in case the label is repeated every 15 seconds while the user is thinking about what to write)
  • Further details about what's required should be put in a separate description, which can take the form of a tooltip. The user can ask for it if needed, normally with a well known method (keyboard shortcut, or mouse over the field for example).
  • The description shouldn't repeat the label, as it is redundant for those who read the whole document first before filling it
  • Arguably, indications about format, length and such (the 600 words in your case) can be put in the label or the description.

If you follow the above, you are mostly covered. There are indeed blind users who go through the form with arrow keys, and others who use only tab.

Those using arrow keys will find the label first, then the description, and then the field (or the field and then the description maybe). For this type of user, it's quite a good practice to keep the description always readable without the need to press some keyboard shortcut to make it appear.

Those who use tab will land on the field, the label will be given, as well as an indication like "Press Ctrl+F1 to read description" if you have correctly implemented your tooltip thing. Some users may have the label and the description read at once or after a few seconds pause, screen reader settings allow to configure it that wway, too.

In any case, for best results, test your form with blind users, or at least try it out yourself with several screen readers on several platforms.

Upvotes: 1

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