Screen reader will still read the label element because it's in the dom, right? It was about whether having labels lead to more user errors, not about omitting then from the DOM?
If that's true, then yeah, that's a terrible idea. You should never omit it from the DOM. I like to use icons to substitute for label text and just pack all the information I can into the legend. Text as a label is what I'm debating.
Your image failed to load (for whatever reason; don't count on a refresh to fix it--the failure may have generated a 404 that's neatly cached by my ISP). My browser doesn't display ALT text for dimensioned images (or the ALT text won't fit in the image placeholder area). I don't use a screen reader, and I'm not an HTML-savvy user. Now what?
Accessibility first — it affects a lot more tan disabled users. Usability second. Pretty if you have time, and only insofar as it doesn't interfere with the first two.
If that's true, then yeah, that's a terrible idea. You should never omit it from the DOM. I like to use icons to substitute for label text and just pack all the information I can into the legend. Text as a label is what I'm debating.