Level AA · WCAG 2.1
1.3.5 Identify Input Purpose
Fields asking for the user’s own information have to declare what they collect, so browsers and assistive tools can fill them in.
Partly automated Some failures are detectable, others need judgement.
How it fails in practice
A checkout with a dozen fields and not one autocomplete attribute, so every address has to be typed again by hand.
How to fix it
Add the right autocomplete token to each field: given-name, email, postal-code, cc-number. It is a one-line change per field and it helps every user, not only the ones the criterion is written for.
At a glance
- Level
- Level AA — the level EN 301 549 requires, and therefore the level the BFSG and the EAA are measured against.
- Principle
- Perceivable
- Guideline
- 1.3 Adaptable
- Added in
- WCAG 2.1
- EN 301 549
- 9.1.3.5
- Automated check
- Partly automated
Partly automated
How far an automated check gets
A tool finds some failures here and cannot see the rest. A clean automated result means the checks that exist found nothing — not that the criterion is met. This is the gap that makes a green scan look like an accessible site, and it is where the keyboard agent, the agents still in development and a human reviewer do the remaining work.
A wrong or missing token on a field that obviously wants personal data is detectable. Whether a custom field should have carried one is a judgement about your form.
Rules that check this criterion
autocomplete-validInvalid autocomplete value
The rule ids are axe-core’s (version 4.14.0), the open-source engine our scan runs, and our keyboard agent’s — the names a report or a CI log will show. An underlined id has a page of its own here.
Where it matters most
The guides that list it among the criteria to check first.
Related criteria
Other criteria under the same guideline.
Further reading
-
autocomplete-valid
The axe rule autocomplete-valid flags autocomplete values that do not exist, like "firstname" or "phone". The valid tokens – with code example.
Find out which criteria your site fails
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