Accessible Role

An accessible role is a property that defines the type and expected behavior of a user interface element as exposed to assistive technologies through the accessibility tree. Roles communicate what an element is (e.g., button, link, heading, list, table, dialog) so that assistive technologies can present it appropriately and users can anticipate how to interact with it. In HTML, many elements have implicit roles derived from their semantics — a button element has an implicit role of "button," a nav element has a role of "navigation." WAI-ARIA allows authors to override or supplement implicit roles using the role attribute (e.g., role="tablist", role="alert"). Roles are defined in a taxonomy that includes widget roles (interactive elements), document structure roles (organizational elements), landmark roles (navigational regions), and abstract roles (base types not used directly). Choosing the correct role is fundamental to accessibility because it determines what properties, states, and keyboard interactions assistive technologies expect.