diff --git a/scss/.scss-lint.yml b/scss/.scss-lint.yml
index 5117da2a..0f992d21 100644
--- a/scss/.scss-lint.yml
+++ b/scss/.scss-lint.yml
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ linters:
     exclude: ['_normalize.scss', 'bootstrap.scss']
 
   DebugStatement:
-    enabled: true
+    enabled: false
 
   DeclarationOrder:
     enabled: false
diff --git a/scss/_forms.scss b/scss/_forms.scss
index 962ffce4..a119e32d 100644
--- a/scss/_forms.scss
+++ b/scss/_forms.scss
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-
 @include mdb-form-color($mdb-label-color, $input-border-color);
 @include mdb-form-control-validation(warning, $brand-warning);
 @include mdb-form-control-validation(danger, $brand-danger);
@@ -52,6 +51,7 @@
     right: 50%;
   }
 }
+
 // End: Focus underline animation =================================
 
 // Help blocks (not in v4)
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@
 //
 // Reference http://www.google.com/design/spec/components/text-fields.html
 // MDL implementation: http://www.getmdl.io/components/index.html#textfields-section
-//.variations(unquote(" label.control-label"), color, $mdb-input-placeholder-color);  // default label color variations
+//.variations(unquote(" label"), color, $mdb-input-placeholder-color);  // default label color variations
 
 .mdb-form-group {
   position: relative;
@@ -88,39 +88,47 @@
   &.label-static,
   &.label-placeholder,
   &.label-floating {
-    label.control-label {
-      position: absolute;
-      pointer-events: none;
-      transition: 0.3s ease all;
-    }
+    //> label {
+    //  position: absolute;
+    //  pointer-events: none;
+    //  transition: 0.3s ease all;
+    //
+    //  label {
+    //    position: relative;
+    //  }
+    //}
   }
 
   // hint to browser for optimization
-  &.label-floating label.control-label {
-    will-change: left, top, contents; // TODO: evaluate effectiveness - looking for community feedback
+  &.label-floating {
+    label {
+      will-change: left, top, contents; // TODO: evaluate effectiveness - looking for community feedback
+    }
   }
 
   // hide label-placeholders when the field is not empty
   &.label-placeholder:not(.is-empty) {
-    label.control-label {
+    label {
       display: none;
     }
   }
 
   &.is-focused {
-    label, // this is a control-label, but often times (too often) not marked as such so work around bad markup
-    label.control-label {
+    label {
       color: $brand-primary;
 
-      label { // inner label
+      label { // inner label e.g. checkbox or radio label
         color: $mdb-label-color-inner-focus;
       }
     }
 
     &.label-placeholder {
-      label,
-      label.control-label {
+      label {
         color: $mdb-label-color;
+
+        label { // inner label e.g. checkbox or radio label
+          color: $mdb-label-color-inner-focus;
+        }
       }
     }
 
@@ -128,8 +136,23 @@
       color: $mdb-label-color-inner-focus;
     }
   }
+  // default floating size/location with an mdb-form-group
+  @include mdb-form-group-size-variant($font-size-base, $mdb-label-top-margin-base, $mdb-input-padding-y-base, $line-height, $mdb-label-as-placeholder-shim-base, "mdb-form-group default");
+
+  // sm floating size/location
+  //&.mdb-form-group-sm {
+  //  @include mdb-form-group-size-variant($font-size-sm, $mdb-label-top-margin-sm, $mdb-input-padding-y-sm, $line-height-sm, $mdb-label-as-placeholder-shim-sm, "mdb-form-group sm");
+  //}
+  //
+  //// lg floating size/location
+  //&.mdb-form-group-lg {
+  //  @include mdb-form-group-size-variant($font-size-lg, $mdb-label-top-margin-lg, $mdb-input-padding-y-lg, $line-height-lg, $mdb-label-as-placeholder-shim-lg, "mdb-form-group lg");
+  //}
 }
 
+// default floating size/location without a form-group (will skip form-group styles, and just render default sizing variation)
+//@include mdb-form-group-size-variant($font-size-base, $mdb-label-top-margin-base, $mdb-input-padding-y-base, $line-height, $mdb-label-as-placeholder-shim-base);
+
 select {
   &,
   &.form-control {
@@ -139,19 +162,6 @@ select {
   }
 }
 
-// default floating size/location without a form-group (will skip form-group styles, and just render default sizing variation)
-@include mdb-form-group-size-variant(null, $font-size-base, $mdb-label-top-margin-base, $mdb-input-padding-y-base, $line-height, $mdb-label-as-placeholder-shim-base);
-
-// default floating size/location with a form-group (need margin etc from a default form-group)
-@include mdb-form-group-size-variant(unquote(".mdb-form-group"), $font-size-base, $mdb-label-top-margin-base, $mdb-input-padding-y-base, $line-height, $mdb-label-as-placeholder-shim-base);
-
-// sm floating size/location
-@include mdb-form-group-size-variant(unquote(".mdb-form-group.mdb-form-group-sm"), $font-size-sm, $mdb-label-top-margin-sm, $mdb-input-padding-y-sm, $line-height-sm, $mdb-label-as-placeholder-shim-sm);
-
-// lg floating size/location
-@include mdb-form-group-size-variant(unquote(".mdb-form-group.mdb-form-group-lg"), $font-size-lg, $mdb-label-top-margin-lg, $mdb-input-padding-y-lg, $line-height-lg, $mdb-label-as-placeholder-shim-lg);
-
-
 // Input files - hide actual input - requires specific markup in the sample.
 //.mdb-form-group input[type=file] {
 //  opacity: 0;
@@ -189,7 +199,7 @@ select {
 //    text-align: right;
 //  }
 //
-//  label.control-label {
+//  label {
 //    margin: 0;
 //  }
 //}
diff --git a/scss/_variables.scss b/scss/_variables.scss
index afc39dac..74d5763a 100644
--- a/scss/_variables.scss
+++ b/scss/_variables.scss
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ $contrast-factor: 40% !default;
 
 //$mdb-input-underline-color: #d2d2d2 !default;
 $mdb-label-static-size-ratio: 75 / 100 !default;
-$mdb-help-block-size-ratio: 75 / 100 !default;
+$mdb-help-size-ratio: 75 / 100 !default;
 
 // FIXME: with #733 customization of bootstrap, consider how these could be based on the original bs customized variables
 //
diff --git a/scss/mixins/_forms.scss b/scss/mixins/_forms.scss
index 303d1719..abfa3d35 100644
--- a/scss/mixins/_forms.scss
+++ b/scss/mixins/_forms.scss
@@ -1,19 +1,19 @@
 // must be broken out for reuse - webkit selector breaks firefox
 @mixin label-static($label-top, $static-font-size, $static-line-height) {
-  label.control-label {
+  label {
     top: $label-top;
     left: 0;
     // must repeat because the selector above is more specific than the general label sizing
-    //font-size: $static-font-size;
-    //line-height: $static-line-height;
+    font-size: $static-font-size;
+    line-height: $static-line-height;
   }
 }
 
-@mixin label-size-variant($placeholder-font-size, $vertical-padding, $line-height, $static-font-size, $static-line-height, $help-block-font-size) {
+@mixin label-size-variant($placeholder-font-size, $vertical-padding, $line-height, $static-font-size, $static-line-height, $help-font-size) {
   .form-control {
     @include mdb-input-placeholder {
       font-size: $placeholder-font-size;
-      //    line-height: $line-height;
+      line-height: $line-height;
     }
     //
     //  // margin-bottom must be specified to give help-block vertical space.
@@ -25,21 +25,21 @@
   .checkbox label,
   .radio label,
   label {
-    //font-size: $placeholder-font-size;
-    //line-height: $line-height;
+    font-size: $placeholder-font-size;
+    line-height: $line-height;
   }
 
   // smaller focused or static size
-  label.control-label {
-    //font-size: $static-font-size;
-    //line-height: $static-line-height;
+  label {
+    font-size: $static-font-size;
+    line-height: $static-line-height;
     //margin: 16px 0 0 0; // std and lg
   }
 
-  //.mdb-help {
-  //  margin-top: 0; // allow the input margin to set-off the top of the help-block
-  //  font-size: $help-block-font-size;
-  //}
+  .mdb-help {
+    margin-top: 0; // allow the input margin to set-off the top of the help-block
+    font-size: $help-font-size;
+  }
 }
 
 @mixin mdb-form-color($label-color, $border-color) {
@@ -92,54 +92,56 @@
   }
 }
 
-@mixin mdb-form-group-size-variant($parent, $placeholder-font-size, $label-top-margin, $vertical-padding, $line-height, $label-as-placeholder-shim) {
-  $static-font-size: ceil(($mdb-label-static-size-ratio * $placeholder-font-size)) !default;
+@mixin mdb-form-group-size-variant($font-size, $label-top-margin, $vertical-padding, $line-height, $label-as-placeholder-shim, $context: null) {
+  $static-font-size: ($mdb-label-static-size-ratio * $font-size) !default;
   $static-line-height: ($mdb-label-static-size-ratio * $line-height) !default;
 
   $label-as-placeholder-top: -1 * ($vertical-padding + $label-as-placeholder-shim) !default;
-  $label-top: $label-as-placeholder-top - ($placeholder-font-size + $vertical-padding) !default;
+  $label-top: $label-as-placeholder-top - ($font-size + $vertical-padding) !default;
 
-  $help-block-font-size: ceil(($mdb-help-block-size-ratio * $placeholder-font-size)) !default;
-  $help-block-line-height: ($mdb-help-block-size-ratio * $line-height) !default;
+  $help-font-size: ($mdb-help-size-ratio * $font-size) !default;
+  $help-line-height: ($mdb-help-size-ratio * $line-height) !default;
+
+  @debug "font-size: #{$font-size} static-font-size: #{$static-font-size} help-font-size: #{$help-font-size} context: #{$context} ";
 
   // this is outside a form-group
-  @if not $parent {
-    @include label-size-variant($placeholder-font-size, $vertical-padding, $line-height, $static-font-size, $static-line-height, $help-block-font-size);
+  @if not $context {
+    @include label-size-variant($font-size, $vertical-padding, $line-height, $static-font-size, $static-line-height, $help-font-size);
   } @else {
     // this is inside a form-group, may be .mdb-form-group.mdb-form-group-sm or .mdb-form-group.mdb-form-group-lg
-    #{$parent} {
-      @include label-size-variant($placeholder-font-size, $vertical-padding, $line-height, $static-font-size, $static-line-height, $help-block-font-size);
+    @include label-size-variant($font-size, $vertical-padding, $line-height, $static-font-size, $static-line-height, $help-font-size);
 
-      // form-group padding-bottom
-      //  upon collapsing margins, the largest margin is honored which collapses the form-control margin-bottom,
-      //  so the form-control margin-bottom must also be expressed as form-group padding
-      //padding-bottom: $vertical-padding;
+    // form-group padding-bottom
+    //  upon collapsing margins, the largest margin is honored which collapses the form-control margin-bottom,
+    //  so the form-control margin-bottom must also be expressed as form-group padding
+    //padding-bottom: $vertical-padding;
 
-      // FIXME: need to avoid top margin http://v4-alpha.getbootstrap.com/content/reboot/#approach
-      // form-group margin-top must be large enough for the label and the label's top padding since label is absolutely positioned
-      //margin: ($label-top-margin + $static-font-size) 0 0 0; // old, try padding below
-      //padding-top: ($label-top-margin + $static-font-size);
+    // FIXME: need to avoid top margin http://v4-alpha.getbootstrap.com/content/reboot/#approach
+    // form-group margin-top must be large enough for the label and the label's top padding since label is absolutely positioned
+    //margin: ($label-top-margin + $static-font-size) 0 0 0; // old, try padding below
+    //padding-top: ($label-top-margin + $static-font-size);
 
-      // larger labels as placeholders
-      &.label-floating,
-      &.label-placeholder {
-        label.control-label {
-          top: $label-as-placeholder-top; // place the floating label to look like a placeholder with input padding
-          //font-size: $placeholder-font-size;
-          //line-height: $line-height;
-        }
+    // placeholder positioning
+    &.label-floating,
+    &.label-placeholder {
+      label,
+      label {
+        @debug "top: #{$label-as-placeholder-top}";
+        top: $label-as-placeholder-top; // place the floating label to look like a placeholder with input padding
+        //font-size: $placeholder-font-size;
+        //line-height: $line-height;
       }
+    }
 
-      // static, focused, or autofill floating labels
-      &.label-static,
-      &.label-floating.is-focused,
-      &.label-floating:not(.is-empty) {
-        @include label-static($label-top, $static-font-size, $static-line-height);
-      }
-      // #559 Fix for webkit/chrome autofill - rule must be separate because it breaks firefox otherwise #731
-      &.label-floating input.form-control:-webkit-autofill ~ label.control-label {
-        @include label-static($label-top, $static-font-size, $static-line-height);
-      }
+    // static, focused, or autofill floating labels
+    &.label-static,
+    &.label-floating.is-focused,
+    &.label-floating:not(.is-empty) {
+      @include label-static($label-top, $static-font-size, $static-line-height);
+    }
+    // #559 Fix for webkit/chrome autofill - rule must be separate because it breaks firefox otherwise #731
+    &.label-floating input.form-control:-webkit-autofill ~ label {
+      @include label-static($label-top, $static-font-size, $static-line-height);
     }
   }
 }