# Bad value “” for attribute “role” on element “div”.

> Canonical HTML version: https://rocketvalidator.com/html-validation/bad-value-for-attribute-role-on-element-div
> Attribution: Rocket Validator (https://rocketvalidator.com)
> License: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

An empty string is not a valid value for the `role` attribute. Either assign a recognized WAI-ARIA role or remove the attribute entirely.

The `role` attribute tells browsers and assistive technologies what purpose an element serves in the page. Every value must be a valid ARIA role token defined in the [WAI-ARIA specification](https://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria-1.2/#role_definitions), such as `banner`, `navigation`, `alert`, `dialog`, or `presentation`. When set to an empty string (`""`), the attribute has no meaningful value, and the W3C validator rejects it.

Some templating engines and JavaScript frameworks conditionally set the `role` attribute but output an empty string when no role applies. In those cases, the fix is to either omit the attribute altogether or conditionally render it only when a valid role is available.

If the element does not need an explicit ARIA role, remove the attribute. Native HTML elements like `<nav>`, `<header>`, `<main>`, and `<aside>` already carry implicit roles, so adding `role` to them is usually unnecessary.

## HTML examples

### Invalid: empty role attribute

```html
<div role="">
  <p>Some content</p>
</div>
```

### Fixed: remove the attribute or assign a valid role

Remove the attribute when no specific role is needed:

```html
<div>
  <p>Some content</p>
</div>
```

Or assign a valid ARIA role:

```html
<div role="alert">
  <p>Something went wrong.</p>
</div>
```