main element role semantics. (Deprecated)

Rule ID Role 1
Definition Overriding a main element's default role of main 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
  • The main element has role restrictions as part of its definition in the W3C HTML5 Specification.
  • The main element semantics are to identify the primary content on the page.
  • If the main element does not contain the primary content of the web page the main landmark semantics the of the element must be changed.
Mappings
  • HTML4 Legacy Techniques (Recommended)
  • HTML5 and ARIA Techniques (Recommended)
WCAG Success Criteria

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

Rule Category Styling/Content
Scope Element
Target Resources main elements
  • main
Techniques
  • HTML5 enabled browsers and modern assistive technologies identify the main element as a main landmark without role="main" being specified, but role="main" is allowed for backward compatibility.
  • If the main element does not contain the primary content of the web page due to author error use role="presentation" to override the main landmark semantics or change element to an element that correctly identifies the semantics of the content.
  • If you need to support Microsoft Internet Explorer(IE) 8, use div[role="main"] instead of the main element to indicate primary content, since IE 8 does not support accessibility features of HTML5 elements.
Informational Links