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What a form field may be about

54 tokens · 53 shared

Every autofill token HTML defines, against the input purposes WCAG requires.

The finding. WCAG did not write a taxonomy of what a form field can be about — it adopted the browser’s. Fifty-three of HTML’s fifty-four autofill field names are in the Input Purposes list, and the single exception is one-time-code: the only token that is about proving who you are rather than describing who you are. The vocabulary itself is the second finding. Twenty-one of the fifty-four tokens are address or payment; seven are the parts of a name. A form field, formally, is mostly a place to send something and a way to charge for it.

What a form field is allowed to be about

The fifty-four tokens, by what they describe. Address and payment together are 21 of 54; the parts of a name are seven.

  1. address 11
  2. payment 10
  3. telephone 8
  4. name 7
  5. birth date 4
  6. authentication 4
  7. contact 4
  8. other 2
  9. organisation 2
  10. transaction 2

The one that is not shared

WCAG 2.2 lists 53 input purposes. HTML defines 54 field names. 53 are in both, and the whole of the difference is this:

  • one-time-code One-time code used for verifying user identity HTML only

Every other token — email, impp, all seven telephone subfields, all seven address tokens — appears in both. The accessibility requirement did not write its own taxonomy of what a control can be for. It took the one the browsers were already using to fill in forms, and the only thing it left behind was the token that authenticates rather than describes.

Required by WCAG
About

TokenAboutMeaning ControlWCAG
additional-name name Additional names (in some Western cultures, also known as middle names, forenames other than the first name) Text required
address-level1 address The broadest administrative level in the address, i.e. the province within which the locality is found; for example, in the US, this would be the state; in Switzerland it would be the canton; in the UK, the post town Text required
address-level2 address The second administrative level, in addresses with two or more administrative levels; in the countries with two administrative levels, this would typically be the city, town, village, or other locality within which the relevant street address is found Text required
address-level3 address The third administrative level, in addresses with three or more administrative levels Text required
address-level4 address The most fine-grained administrative level, in addresses with four administrative levels Text required
address-line1 address Street address (one line per field) Text required
address-line2 address Free-form text, no newlines Text required
address-line3 address Free-form text, no newlines Text required
bday birth date Birthday Date required
bday-day birth date Day component of birthday Numeric required
bday-month birth date Month component of birthday Numeric required
bday-year birth date Year component of birthday Numeric required
cc-additional-name payment Additional names given on the payment instrument (in some Western cultures, also known as middle names, forenames other than the first name) Text required
cc-csc payment Security code for the payment instrument (also known as the card security code (CSC), card validation code (CVC), card verification value (CVV), signature panel code (SPC), credit card ID (CCID), etc.) Text required
cc-exp payment Expiration date of the payment instrument Month required
cc-exp-month payment Month component of the expiration date of the payment instrument Numeric required
cc-exp-year payment Year component of the expiration date of the payment instrument Numeric required
cc-family-name payment Family name given on the payment instrument (in some Western cultures, also known as the last name or surname) Text required
cc-given-name payment Given name as given on the payment instrument (in some Western cultures, also known as the first name) Text required
cc-name payment Full name as given on the payment instrument Text required
cc-number payment Code identifying the payment instrument (e.g. the credit card number) Text required
cc-type payment Type of payment instrument Text required
country address Country code Text required
country-name address Country name Text required
current-password authentication The current password for the account identified by the username field (e.g. when logging in) Password required
email contact Email address Username required
family-name name Family name (in some Western cultures, also known as the last name or surname) Text required
given-name name Given name (in some Western cultures, also known as the first name) Text required
honorific-prefix name Prefix or title (e.g. "Mr.", "Ms.", "Dr.", "Mlle") Text required
honorific-suffix name Suffix (e.g. "Jr.", "B.Sc.", "MBASW", "II") Text required
impp contact URL representing an instant messaging protocol endpoint (for example, "aim:goim?screenname=example" or "xmpp:fred@example.net") URL required
language other Preferred language Text required
name name Full name Text required
new-password authentication A new password (e.g. when creating an account or changing a password) Password required
nickname name Nickname, screen name, handle: a typically short name used instead of the full name Text required
one-time-code authentication One-time code used for verifying user identity Password not listed
organization organisation Company name corresponding to the person, address, or contact information in the other fields associated with this field Text required
organization-title organisation Job title (e.g. "Software Engineer", "Senior Vice President", "Deputy Managing Director") Text required
photo contact Photograph, icon, or other image corresponding to the company, person, address, or contact information in the other fields associated with this field URL required
postal-code address Postal code, post code, ZIP code, CEDEX code (if CEDEX, append "CEDEX", and the arrondissement, if relevant, to the address-level2 field) Text required
sex other Gender identity (e.g. Female, Fa'afafine) Text required
street-address address Street address (multiple lines, newlines preserved) Multiline required
tel telephone Full telephone number, including country code Tel required
tel-area-code telephone Area code component of the telephone number, with a country-internal prefix applied if applicable Text required
tel-country-code telephone Country code component of the telephone number Text required
tel-extension telephone Telephone number internal extension code Text required
tel-local telephone Telephone number without the country code and area code components Text required
tel-local-prefix telephone First part of the component of the telephone number that follows the area code, when that component is split into two components Text required
tel-local-suffix telephone Second part of the component of the telephone number that follows the area code, when that component is split into two components Text required
tel-national telephone Telephone number without the county code component, with a country-internal prefix applied if applicable Text required
transaction-amount transaction The amount that the user would like for the transaction (e.g. when entering a bid or sale price) Numeric required
transaction-currency transaction The currency that the user would prefer the transaction to use Text required
url contact Home page or other web page corresponding to the company, person, address, or contact information in the other fields associated with this field URL required
username authentication A username Username required

The two lists are counted from the documents on every build, never carried over from a summary. WHATWG’s dfn list holds 65 tokens; 11 of them are the modifier stream (shipping, billing, home, work, mobile, fax, pager, section) and the whole-value specials (off, on, webauthn), which belong to the grammar rather than the register and are excluded by name. The grouping is this site’s own, derived from the token, because the specification carries it only as rowspan indentation in the Meaning column.

Source. WHATWG HTML autofill × WCAG 2.2 Input Purposes · CC BY 4.0 · W3C Document Licence · retrieved 2026-08-14. This collection is derived · two sources joined.

The documents. WHATWG HTML — autofill · WCAG 2.2 Input Purposes