HTML landmarks

HTML5 included the addition of the following content sectioning elements, which inherit default landmark roles:[2]

The role attribute is used to define an element's role on a page. When sectioning elements were introduced, the role attribute became used less for landmarking. This is because roles were applied by default to most sectioning elements, therefore, they were more widely used and accepted for their simplicity.[5]

The role attribute is not only used for assigning roles to content sections. The attribute can also be used to assign roles to many other elements, although it is used less nowadays due to new semantic HTML elements.[6]

<div role="banner">
    <h1>Hello, world!</h1>
</div>

<header>
    <h1>Hello, world!</h1>
</header>

Following the addition of sectioning elements in HTML5, there was confusion regarding whether role attributes were needed for sectioning elements. It is in fact redundant to give sectioning elements the role attribute.[8]

Additionally, you should not try to alter sectioning elements' default roles.[9]

<main role="main">
    <p>Hello world!</p>
</main>

<header role="form">
    <!--Some HTML code here-->
</header>

• Semantic Web
• Semantic HTML
• Web accessibility
• HTML element
• HTML attribute