Identify Input Purpose
Tier 1 · The normative floor
Baseline compliance
What the normative text of WCAG 2.2 requires, and nothing more. Only a failure of this tier is a WCAG failure.
The bare minimum
Input fields collecting information about the user have a programmatically determinable purpose, when the field's purpose is one listed in WCAG's Input Purposes section and the technology supports it. (In HTML, W3C's sufficient technique is the autocomplete attribute; techniques are informative.)
Normative text
Verbatim from WCAG 2.2, W3C Recommendation 12 December 2024. Underlined terms are defined below.
The purpose of each input field collecting information about the user can be programmatically determined when:
- The input field serves a purpose identified in the Input Purposes for user interface components section; and
- The content is implemented using technologies with support for identifying the expected meaning for form input data.
Not required by the normative text
Common claims that this criterion does not support. Don't log these as WCAG failures.
- Marking up fields about someone other than the user, such as a gift recipient's address.
- Marking up fields whose purpose isn't on the Input Purposes list.
Definitions used (1)
Glossary definitions are normative. Their notes are informative.
- programmatically determined
-
determined by software from author-supplied data provided in a way that different user agents, including assistive technologies, can extract and present this information to users in different modalities
Tier 2 · The gap
Usability & user impact
Where content can meet this criterion and still make things harder for people with disabilities. These are not failures of SC 1.3.5, so raise them as usability defects. Known failures, including failures of related criteria, are listed in Tier 1.
Correct autocomplete values don't help if scripts or browser workarounds stop autofill from working. People with motor or memory impairments are left retyping their details.
Tier 3 · The golden path
Recommended best practice
The pattern that meets the floor, closes the gap, and avoids audit disputes. A recommendation, not a requirement.
Add the right autocomplete token to every personal-data field, and never block browser autofill.
W3C's Understanding document and techniques for SC 1.3.5 ↗ are informative: sufficient techniques show ways to pass, and documented failures show common ways to fail, but neither changes what the criterion requires.
How SC 1.3.5 maps to the WCAG 3 draft
From this site's reviewed map to the WCAG 3 editor's draft. It's an interpretation: W3C has not published a mapping.
No provision in the current draft requires identifying input purpose. Automated entry allowed covers not blocking autofill or paste.
Related, not a successor
From WCAG 2.2, section 5.1: “The main content of WCAG 2.2 is normative and defines requirements that impact conformance claims. Introductory material, appendices, sections marked as "non-normative", diagrams, examples, and notes are informative (non-normative). Non-normative material provides advisory information to help interpret the guidelines but does not create requirements that impact a conformance claim.”