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Re: Clarification on the banner role not being at the top of a page

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From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Jun 25, 2023 5:21PM

The ARIA 1.2 definition of a banner landmark mentions the visual
location as well as the type of content to expect:

https://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria-1.2/#banner

"A landmark that contains mostly site-oriented content, rather than
page-specific content.

Site-oriented content typically includes things such as the logo or
identity of the site sponsor, and a site-specific search tool.

A banner usually appears at the top of the page and typically spans
the full width.
"

So, in this case, we could go with a few checks to determine the role:
Does the sidebar content continue either a logo or a search widget?
Is this widget consistently displayed across all (or at least most)
pages on the site?
Is this widget part of the page header, like a navigation area inside
the header?

Other possible landmark roles you could select from, if you feel
banner isn't it:
role="Navigation" (if the widget consists only of links or
navigational elements). This could be a navigation landmark inside the
banner. Ideally give it an accessible name, if you can think of an
accessible name that describes the common purpose or group label.
Complementary (more of a longshot) if the content is not a child of
the banner, main, or contentinfo landmarks, and if its content is not
directly related to the purpose of the page.
Examples might include: a carousel, market data feed, or a list of
related articles.

I personally always recommend the banner role to cover the content at
the start of the page. If it doesn't I recommend other roles.
The primary benefits of landmarks is to keep them consistent and
predictable and personally I feel if we are not consistent with these
big 3 we cause confusion.
But that's admittedly one of those things where we all have a bit of
our own interpretations. :)
It's most important to apply your landmarks consistently across the
website or collection of pages.

On 6/25/23, <EMAIL REMOVED> < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> I also prefer to see the header reserved for the top of the page even though
> it can be correct to use it elsewhere.
> I am presuming that, whatever approach is implemented, it will need an
> accessible label.
>
> (Let me take this opportunity to grouse that lately I have encountered a
> number of sites that put the main page content in the header. Very
> confusing.)
>
> Jeff Gutsell
>
>
>