Why use <label>?

Question

From a presentation perspective, if I write a text between a <label> tag it looks identical as to if I hadn't.

So, why do we use this tag at all?

Answer 1

HTML is not about presentation. It is a way of describing data. If you have some text that represents a label for an input, you wrap it in label tags not for presentation but because that's what it is. Without the label tag, that text is almost meaningless. With the label tag and its for attribute (or not*) you are providing meaning and structure and forming a relationship between your markup that can be better understood by computers/parsers/browsers/people.

* you don't necessarily need the for if you wrap the label around the input:

<label>My input
  <input type="text" id="my-input" />
</label>

Answer 2

The for attribute of a label element corresponds to the id attribute of an input element. If you click the label, it puts focus on the input box.

Example:

<input type="checkbox" id="agree" /> 
<label for="agree">I agree with the Terms and Conditions</label>

See this in action.

If you click on the text, it checks the box.

Answer 3

When you click on the label, the focus goes to the related input. Very handy for checkboxes when it is hard to hit the small rectangle.