Intro
Label "Name" in a form
Usage
Use the label control if:
- You need a label for a control. We recommend that you always use labels for form controls.
Do not use the label control if:
- You want to insert a heading in the column header of a table.
- You want to use it as an alternative for the text control. Do not use the label control to display the data (for example, in display-only forms).
Types
There are two types of labels:
- Required
- Optional
To indicate that a field is required, set the required property to true. An asterisk is then added automatically in front of the label.
Required label in an editable environment (horizontal layout)
Result of a required label in a display-only environment
Optional label in an editable environment (vertical layout)
Result of an optional label in a display-only environment
Styles
For better differentiation of labels and values, labels are displayed differently in a display-only environment than in an editable environment.
Wrapping
Automatic wrap only applies to labels within forms to avoid truncation.
Do not use wrapping to enable long labels. Instead, keep your labels short: a label is not a help text. It must be meaningful, succinct, short, and descriptive. For more information about the responsive behavior of text, see Wrapping and Truncating Text.
The boolean wrapping property for the sap.m.Label control determines whether or not the text wraps .
Note: Only use this property in forms.
Hyphenation
The label control also supports hyphenation for wrapped texts (property: wrappingtype = Hyphenated). Switching on hyphenation activates it for all languages that have hyphenation support.
[internal_only]
In the future, we plan to apply hyphenation only to a predefined set of languages (for example, languages that have a lot of long or compound words).
This will avoid unnecessary hyphenation in languages that have shorter words, such as English.
[/internal_only]
Wrapping label
Guidelines
- Always use a label for form controls.
- Always set the vertical alignment for labels that display outside a form and flex box (property: VAlign). You can set the vertical alignment in tables and object page header facets, for example.
- Use title case for labels.
- Do not use a placeholder (input prompt) instead of a label.
- Do not use bold labels.
- A label is not a help text: it must be meaningful, succinct, short, and descriptive.
Exceptions
The layout can sometimes be simplified by using a placeholder instead of the label control. This exception can be applied in the following cases:
- When the form pattern is easily understood, such as on a login screen. Since this screen consists of only two input controls (User Name and Password), the labels do not have to be used.
- When the form is extremely small and has fewer than three input fields. This can be the case for messages or small feedback forms.
- In search fields. For more information, see Search.
Resources
Want to dive deeper? Follow the links below to find out more about related controls, the SAPUI5 implementation, and the visual design.
Elements and Controls
- Form (guidelines)
- Text (guidelines)
- Wrapping and Truncating Text (guidelines)
Implementation
- Label (SAPUI5 samples)
- Label (SAPUI5 API reference)
- Hyphenation for Text Controls (SAPUI5 documentation)
Visual Design