Do not override nav element semantics. (Deprecated)

Rule ID Role 6
Definition Overriding a nav element's default role of navigation landmark must only be done in special cases. NOTE: Deprecated in favor of HTML 3 a more general rule on role restrictions based on ARIA in HTML specification.
Purpose
  • A nav element has role restrictions as part of its definition in the W3C HTML5 Specification to help ensure the nav element semantics of identifying navigation landmark content.
  • A nav element should only use role="presentation" if the content of the nav element is not being used to identify navigation landmark content (e.g. repairing poor page semantics).
Mappings
  • HTML4 Legacy Techniques (Recommended)
  • HTML5 and ARIA Techniques (Recommended)
WCAG Success Criteria

1.3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A, Primary Success Criterion)

Other Related Success Criterion:

Rule Category Styling/Content
Scope Element
Target Resources nav element
  • nav
Techniques
  • The nav element with no role value by default defines a navigation landmark, but the role="navigation" is allowed to support legacy pages.
  • If the nav element does not identify a navigation landmark content use a different element that does identify the semantics of content.
  • In rare cases role="presentation" can be used when the nav element does not represent the website or page navigation links on the page (e.g. repairing poor page semantics).
  • Any other role values are not allowed on nav elements.
Informational Links