HTML Guides for accessibility
Learn how to identify and fix common HTML validation errors flagged by the W3C Validator — so your pages are standards-compliant and render correctly across every browser. Also check our Accessibility Guides.
The role="presentation" on this element is ignored because the element also carries a global ARIA attribute, such as aria-label or aria-describedby.
role="presentation" (and its synonym role="none") removes an element's implicit semantics so assistive technologies treat it as if it were plain content. Global ARIA states and properties, such as aria-label, aria-describedby, aria-live, and aria-hidden, are allowed on any element regardless of its role. When one of them is present, the browser cannot silence the element, because that attribute needs a role to attach to. The ARIA specification resolves this conflict by ignoring the presentation role and exposing the element's implicit role instead.
The result is that role="presentation" does nothing here, which is almost always a mistake. Decide which of the two you actually want.
If the element should stay presentational, remove the global ARIA attribute. If you need the ARIA attribute, remove role="presentation" and let the element keep its semantics.
Invalid example
The aria-label cancels the presentation role, so the <div> is not silenced:
<div role="presentation" aria-label="Main navigation">
...
</div>
Valid example
Keep the label and drop the ineffective role:
<div aria-label="Main navigation">
...
</div>
Or, if the element was only meant to be presentational, remove the ARIA attribute:
<div role="presentation">
...
</div>
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