Do not override header element role. (Deprecated)

Rule ID Role 8
Definition Overriding a header element's default role of banner 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 top-level header element has role restrictions as part of its definition in the W3C HTML5 Specification to help ensure the header element semantics of identifying banner landmark content.
  • A top-level header element should only use role="presentation" if the content of the header element is not being used to identify banner landmark content (e.g. repairing poor page semantics).
Required No for HTML5 and ARIA Techniques ruleset mapping
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 header elements
  • header
Techniques
  • The top level header element with no role value by default defines a banner landmark, but the role="banner" is allowed to support legacy pages.
  • If the top level header element does not identify a banner landmark content use a different element that does identify the semantics of content.
  • In rare cases role="presentation" can be used when the header element does not represent the banner landmark content on the page (e.g. repairing poor page semantics).
  • Any other role values are not allowed on header elements.
Informational Links