Success Criterion 3.3.1
Conformance level A

Form Submission With No Way to Identify What Went Wrong

3.3.1 — Error Identification

Scenario

Setting

A calendar app's event-creation form

What’s wrong

Submitting the event form with a missing title turns the field's border red, but no text message says which field failed or why, and screen reader users hear no announcement at all.

Example

<input class="error" type="text">

Why it matters

Everyone submitting forms — especially screen-reader and color-blind users who miss color-only cues.

How to test

Submit a form with invalid data and check whether ANY error identification appears — visual, textual, or announced: absence of all three fails.

How to fix

A text error message must identify each field in error and be exposed to assistive technology (announced automatically or focused).

<input class="error" type="text" aria-describedby="err-1">

<span id="err-1">Enter a valid email address</span>

A text message identifying the field and the problem must be exposed to assistive tech, not just shown as a red border.

Outcome

On a calendar app's event-creation form, this barrier is gone for everyone submitting forms — they reach the same outcome without extra effort.

Who is affected