3.2.6 Annotations for assistive technology products (ARIA)

Authors may use the ARIA role and aria-* attributes on HTML elements, in accordance with the requirements described in the ARIA specifications, except where these conflict with the strong native semantics described below. These exceptions are intended to prevent authors from making assistive technology products report nonsensical states that do not represent the actual state of the document. [ARIA]

User agents are required to implement ARIA semantics on all HTML elements, as defined in the ARIA specifications. The implicit ARIA semantics defined below must be recognized by implementations. [ARIAIMPL]

The following table defines the strong native semantics and corresponding implicit ARIA semantics that apply to HTML elements. Each language feature (element or attribute) in a cell in the first column implies the ARIA semantics (role, states, and/or properties) given in the cell in the second column of the same row. Authors must not set the ARIA role and aria-* attributes in a manner that conflicts with the semantics described in the following table. When multiple rows apply to an element, the role from the last row to define a role must be applied, and the states and properties from all the rows must be combined.

Language feature Strong native semantics and implied ARIA semantics
a element that represents a hyperlink link role
area element that represents a hyperlink link role
button element button role
datalist element listbox role, with the aria-multiselectable property set to "false"
h1 element that does not have an hgroup ancestor heading role, with the aria-level property set to the element's outline depth
h2 element that does not have an hgroup ancestor heading role, with the aria-level property set to the element's outline depth
h3 element that does not have an hgroup ancestor heading role, with the aria-level property set to the element's outline depth
h4 element that does not have an hgroup ancestor heading role, with the aria-level property set to the element's outline depth
h5 element that does not have an hgroup ancestor heading role, with the aria-level property set to the element's outline depth
h6 element that does not have an hgroup ancestor heading role, with the aria-level property set to the element's outline depth
hgroup element heading role, with the aria-level property set to the element's outline depth
hr element separator role
img element whose alt attribute's value is empty presentation role
input element with a type attribute in the Button state button role
input element with a type attribute in the Checkbox state checkbox role, with the aria-checked state set to "mixed" if the element's indeterminate IDL attribute is true, or "true" if the element's checkedness is true, or "false" otherwise
input element with a type attribute in the Color state No role
input element with a type attribute in the Date state No role, with the aria-readonly state set to "true" if the element has a readonly attribute
input element with a type attribute in the Date and Time state No role, with the aria-readonly state set to "true" if the element has a readonly attribute
input element with a type attribute in the Local Date and Time state No role, with the aria-readonly state set to "true" if the element has a readonly attribute
input element with a type attribute in the E-mail state with no suggestions source element textbox role, with the aria-readonly state set to "true" if the element has a readonly attribute
input element with a type attribute in the File Upload state button role
input element with a type attribute in the Hidden state No role
input element with a type attribute in the Image Button state button role
input element with a type attribute in the Month state No role, with the aria-readonly state set to "true" if the element has a readonly attribute
input element with a type attribute in the Number state spinbutton role, with the aria-readonly state set to "true" if the element has a readonly attribute, the aria-valuemax property set to the element's maximum, the aria-valuemin property set to the element's minimum, and, if the result of applying the rules for parsing floating point number values to the element's value is a number, with the aria-valuenow property set to that number
input element with a type attribute in the Password state textbox role, with the aria-readonly state set to "true" if the element has a readonly attribute
input element with a type attribute in the Radio Button state radio role, with the aria-checked state set to "true" if the element's checkedness is true, or "false" otherwise
input element with a type attribute in the Range state slider role, with the aria-valuemax property set to the element's maximum, the aria-valuemin property set to the element's minimum, and the aria-valuenow property set to the result of applying the rules for parsing floating point number values to the element's value, if that that results in a number, or the default value otherwise
input element with a type attribute in the Reset Button state button role
input element with a type attribute in the Search state with no suggestions source element textbox role, with the aria-readonly state set to "true" if the element has a readonly attribute
input element with a type attribute in the Submit Button state button role
input element with a type attribute in the Telephone state with no suggestions source element textbox role, with the aria-readonly state set to "true" if the element has a readonly attribute
input element with a type attribute in the Text state with no suggestions source element textbox role, with the aria-readonly state set to "true" if the element has a readonly attribute
input element with a type attribute in the Text, Search, Telephone, URL, or E-mail states with a suggestions source element combobox role, with the aria-owns property set to the same value as the list attribute, and the aria-readonly state set to "true" if the element has a readonly attribute
input element with a type attribute in the Time state No role, with the aria-readonly state set to "true" if the element has a readonly attribute
input element with a type attribute in the URL state with no suggestions source element textbox role, with the aria-readonly state set to "true" if the element has a readonly attribute
input element with a type attribute in the Week state No role, with the aria-readonly state set to "true" if the element has a readonly attribute
link element that represents a hyperlink link role
menu element with a type attribute in the context menu state No role
menu element with a type attribute in the list state menu role
menu element with a type attribute in the toolbar state toolbar role
nav element navigation role
option element that is in a list of options or that represents a suggestion in a datalist element option role, with the aria-selected state set to "true" if the element's selectedness is true, or "false" otherwise.
progress element progressbar role, with, if the progress bar is determinate, the aria-valuemax property set to the maximum value of the progress bar, the aria-valuemin property set to zero, and the aria-valuenow property set to the current value of the progress bar
select element with a multiple attribute listbox role, with the aria-multiselectable property set to "true"
select element with no multiple attribute listbox role, with the aria-multiselectable property set to "false"
td element gridcell role, with the aria-labelledby property set to the value of the headers attribute, if any
textarea element textbox role, with the aria-multiline property set to "true", and the aria-readonly state set to "true" if the element has a readonly attribute
th element that is neither a column header nor a row header gridcell role, with the aria-labelledby property set to the value of the headers attribute, if any
th element that is a column header columnheader role, with the aria-labelledby property set to the value of the headers attribute, if any
th element that is a row header rowheader role, with the aria-labelledby property set to the value of the headers attribute, if any
tr element row role
An element that defines a command, whose Type facet is "checkbox", and that is a descendant of a menu element whose type attribute in the list state menuitemcheckbox role, with the aria-checked state set to "true" if the command's Checked State facet is true, and "false" otherwise
An element that defines a command, whose Type facet is "command", and that is a descendant of a menu element whose type attribute in the list state menuitem role
An element that defines a command, whose Type facet is "radio", and that is a descendant of a menu element whose type attribute in the list state menuitemradio role, with the aria-checked state set to "true" if the command's Checked State facet is true, and "false" otherwise
Elements that are disabled The aria-disabled state set to "true"
Elements that are required The aria-required state set to "true"

Some HTML elements have native semantics that can be overridden. The following table lists these elements and their implicit ARIA semantics, along with the restrictions that apply to those elements. Each language feature (element or attribute) in a cell in the first column implies, unless otherwise overriden, the ARIA semantic (role, state, or property) given in the cell in the second column of the same row, but this semantic may be overridden under the conditions listed in the cell in the third column of that row.

Language feature Default implied ARIA semantic Restrictions
a element that represents a hyperlink link role Role must be either button, checkbox, link, menuitem, menuitemcheckbox, menuitemradio, tab, or treeitem
address element No role If specified, role must be contentinfo (ARIA restricts usage of this role to one per page)
article element article role Role must be either article, document, application, or main (ARIA restricts usage of this role to one per page)
aside element note role Role must be either note, complementary, or search
button element button role Role must be either button, link, menuitem, menuitemcheckbox, menuitemradio, or radio
footer element No role If specified, role must be contentinfo (ARIA restricts usage of this role to one per page)
header element No role If specified, role must be banner (ARIA restricts usage of this role to one per page)
h1 element that does not have an hgroup ancestor heading role, with the aria-level property set to the element's outline depth Role must be either heading role, with the aria-level property set to the element's outline depth, link, menuitem, menuitemcheckbox, menuitemradio,  tab or treeitem
h2 element that does not have an hgroup ancestor heading role, with the aria-level property set to the element's outline depth Role must be either heading role, with the aria-level property set to the element's outline depth, link, menuitem, menuitemcheckbox, menuitemradio,  tab or treeitem
h3 element that does not have an hgroup ancestor heading role, with the aria-level property set to the element's outline depth Role must be either heading role, with the aria-level property set to the element's outline depth, link, menuitem, menuitemcheckbox, menuitemradio,  tab or treeitem
h4 element that does not have an hgroup ancestor heading role, with the aria-level property set to the element's outline depth Role must be either heading role, with the aria-level property set to the element's outline depth, link, menuitem, menuitemcheckbox, menuitemradio,  tab or treeitem
h5 element that does not have an hgroup ancestor heading role, with the aria-level property set to the element's outline depth Role must be either heading role, with the aria-level property set to the element's outline depth, link, menuitem, menuitemcheckbox, menuitemradio,  tab or treeitem
h6 element that does not have an hgroup ancestor heading role, with the aria-level property set to the element's outline depth Role must be either heading role, with the aria-level property set to the element's outline depth, link, menuitem, menuitemcheckbox, menuitemradio,  tab or treeitem
img element whose alt attribute's value is not empty or is absent img role No restrictions
input element with a type attribute in the Button state button role Role must be either button, link, menuitem, menuitemcheckbox, menuitemradio, or radio
input element with a type attribute in the Image Button state button role Role must be either button, link, menuitem, menuitemcheckbox, menuitemradio, or radio
li element whose parent is an ol or ul element listitem role Role must be either listitem or treeitem
ol element list role Role must be either list, tree, or directory
output element status role No restrictions
section element region role Role must be either region, document, application, contentinfo (ARIA restricts usage of this role to one per page), main (ARIA restricts usage of this role to one per page), search, alert, dialog, alertdialog, status, or log
table element grid role Role must be either grid or treegrid
ul element list role Role must be either list or tree, or directory
The body element document role Role must be either document or application

User agents may apply different defaults than those described in this section in order to expose the semantics of HTML elements in a manner more fine-grained than possible with the above definitions.

Conformance checkers are encouraged to phrase errors such that authors are encouraged to use more appropriate elements rather than remove accessibility annotations. For example, if an a element is marked as having the button role, a conformance checker could say "Either a button element or an input element is required when using the button role" rather than "The button role cannot be used with a elements".