ARIA: structure role

The structure role is for document structural elements.

Note: The structure role is an abstract role. It is included here for completeness of documentation. It should not be used by web authors.

Description

Structure is a superclass abstract role for document structures, like as document, rowgroup, and sectionhead, that support the accessibility of dynamic web content by helping assistive technologies determine active content versus static document content. Some subclass roles, like section role, are in turn superclasses of other roles.

The structure role is the superclass for all document structure roles, which are used to provide a structural description for a section of content. Most structure roles should no longer be used as browsers now support semantic HTML element with the same meaning. The structure roles without HTML equivalents, such as the presentation role which means content is presentational only, provide information on the document structure to assistive technologies such as screen readers as equivalent native HTML tags are not available.

Best Practices

Do not use role="structure". Do use HTML and subclass structure roles.

Specifications

Specification
Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA)
# structure

See also