Semantics

A word or phrase with an optional corresponding definition.

Additional info from the ARIA specification

See related definition.

The term role is used to explicitly identify a word or phrase for which a definition has been provided by the author or is expected to be provided by the user. If there is an existing definition, or a form or form control to enter a definition, authors SHOULD set aria-details to point to the related element.

Authors SHOULD NOT use the term role on interactive elements such as links because doing so could prevent users of assistive technologies from interacting with those elements.

Abstract Role

  • StructureRepresents a non-interactive part of a page that organizes content into coherent units.

Content Categories

  • Phrasing ContentAn element that typically appears inline and provides semantic meaning to text content.

Allowed Descendants

Phrasing Children Allowed

Usage

Allowed HTML elements

Implicit semantics

These elements have the role semantics by default, without needing to set the role attribute. Reach for elements with native semantics first when choosing how to implement a role in your content.

  • dfn
  • dt

Explicitly allowed

  • None

Elements that can have any role

  • abbr[role=term]
  • address[role=term]
  • b[role=term]
  • blockquote[role=term]
  • canvas[role=term]
  • cite[role=term]
  • code[role=term]
  • custom-element[role=term]
  • data[role=term]
  • del[role=term]
  • div[role=term]
  • em[role=term]
  • figure[role=term]
  • i[role=term]
  • ins[role=term]
  • kbd[role=term]
  • mark[role=term]
  • output[role=term]
  • p[role=term]
  • pre[role=term]
  • q[role=term]
  • samp[role=term]
  • small[role=term]
  • span[role=term]
  • table[role=term]
  • tbody[role=term]
  • tfoot[role=term]
  • thead[role=term]
  • time[role=term]
  • u[role=term]
  • var[role=term]