81 of 139 elements already have a role. Writing it again is discouraged.

Should you write this role?

HTML element

ARIA role

You do not need it — the element already has this role

This is valid markup, not an error. The specification marks assigning an element's own implicit role as NOT RECOMMENDED, because it adds nothing and can drift from the element if the markup later changes.

Implicit role: button
Accepts: Only an enumerated set

The specification says: Roles: checkbox , combobox , gridcell , link , menuitem , menuitemcheckbox , menuitemradio , option , radio , separator , slider , switch , tab , or treeitem . ( button is also allowed, but NOT RECOMMENDED .) Global aria-* attributes and any aria-* attributes applicable to the allowed roles. If the button is the first child of a select element: No role or aria-* attributes

Which elements give you this role

Already have it, with no attribute

button, input type=button, input type=image, input type=reset, input type=submit

Will accept it if you ask

a with href, area without href, img, input type=image, input type=reset, input type=submit

What the table says overall

HTML elements covered: 139
already have a role: 81
accept no other role: 51
have a conditional rule: 10

The most useful answer is usually that you need no role at all. 81 of the 139 elements already carry one, and the specification's own table header says writing those into your markup is NOT RECOMMENDED — a button element is already a button, an h1 is already a heading.

Ten elements have rules that depend on their surroundings, and this page refuses to give a verdict on them rather than guessing. td, th and tr depend on the role of the ancestor table; div depends on whether it is a direct child of dl; figure depends on whether it has a figcaption.

Every element in the table

Showing 139 / 139

Element	Implicit role	Accepts
a with href	link	button, checkbox, menuitem, menuitemcheckbox, menuitemradio, option, radio, switch, tab, treeitem
a without href	generic	Any role
abbr	none	Any role
address	group	Any role
area with href	link	No role beyond its own
area without href	generic	button, link
article	article	application, document, feed, main, none, presentation, region
aside	complementary	feed, none, note, presentation, region, search
audio	none	application
autonomous custom element	none	Conditional
b	generic	Any role
base	none	No role beyond its own
bdi	generic	Any role
bdo	generic	Any role
blockquote	blockquote	Any role
body	generic	No role beyond its own
br	none	none, presentation
button	button	checkbox, combobox, gridcell, link, menuitem, menuitemcheckbox, menuitemradio, option, radio, separator, slider, switch, tab, treeitem
canvas	none	Any role
caption	caption	No role beyond its own
cite	none	Any role
code	code	Any role
col	none	No role beyond its own
colgroup	none	No role beyond its own
data	generic	Any role
datalist	listbox	No role beyond its own
dd	none	No role beyond its own
del	deletion	Any role
details	group	No role beyond its own
dfn	term	Any role
dialog	dialog	alertdialog
div	generic	Conditional
dl	none	group, list, none, presentation
dt	none	listitem
em	emphasis	Any role
embed	none	application, document, img, image, none, presentation
fieldset	group	none, presentation, radiogroup
figcaption	none	group, none
figure	figure	Conditional
footer	none	group, presentation, none
form	form	none, presentation, search
form-associated custom element	none	Conditional
h1 to h6	heading	none, presentation, tab
head	none	No role beyond its own
header	none	group, none, presentation
hgroup	group	Any role
hr	separator	none, presentation
html	generic	No role beyond its own
i	generic	Any role
iframe	none	application, document, img, image, none, presentation
img	none	button, checkbox, link, math, menuitem, menuitemcheckbox, menuitemradio, meter, option, progressbar, radio, scrollbar, separator, slider, switch, tab, treeitem
img with no accessible name	none	Conditional
input type=button	button	checkbox, combobox, gridcell, link, menuitem, menuitemcheckbox, menuitemradio, option, radio, separator, slider, switch, tab, treeitem
input type=checkbox	checkbox	menuitemcheckbox, option, switch
input type=color	none	No role beyond its own
input type=date	none	No role beyond its own
input type=datetime-local	none	No role beyond its own
input type=email with no list attribute	textbox	No role beyond its own
input type=file	none	No role beyond its own
input type=hidden	none	No role beyond its own
input type=image	button	button, checkbox, gridcell, link, menuitem, menuitemcheckbox, menuitemradio, option, radio, separator, slider, switch, tab, treeitem
input type=month	none	No role beyond its own
input type=number	spinbutton	No role beyond its own
input type=password	none	No role beyond its own
input type=radio	radio	menuitemradio
input type=range	slider	No role beyond its own
input type=reset	button	button, checkbox, combobox, gridcell, link, menuitem, menuitemcheckbox, menuitemradio, option, radio, separator, slider, switch, tab, treeitem
input type=search , with no list attribute	searchbox	No role beyond its own
input type=submit	button	button, checkbox, combobox, gridcell, link, menuitem, menuitemcheckbox, menuitemradio, option, radio, separator, slider, switch, tab, treeitem
input type=tel , with no list attribute	textbox	No role beyond its own
input type=text or with a missing or invalid type , with no list attribute	textbox	combobox, searchbox, spinbutton
input type=text , search , tel , url , email , or with a missing or invalid type , with a list attribute	combobox	No role beyond its own
input type=time	none	No role beyond its own
input type=url with no list attribute	textbox	No role beyond its own
input type=week	none	No role beyond its own
ins	insertion	Any role
kbd	none	Any role
label	none	Conditional
legend	none	No role beyond its own
li	none	No role beyond its own
link	none	No role beyond its own
main	main	No role beyond its own
map	none	No role beyond its own
mark	none	Any role
math	math	No role beyond its own
menu	list	group, listbox, menu, menubar, none, presentation, radiogroup, tablist, toolbar, tree
meta	none	No role beyond its own
meter	meter	No role beyond its own
nav	navigation	menu, menubar, none, presentation, tablist
noscript	none	No role beyond its own
object	none	application, document, img, image
ol	list	group, listbox, menu, menubar, none, presentation, radiogroup, tablist, toolbar, tree
optgroup	group	No role beyond its own
option element that is in a list of options or that represents a suggestion in a datalist	option	No role beyond its own
output	status	Any role
p	paragraph	Any role
param	none	No role beyond its own
picture	none	No role beyond its own
pre	generic	Any role
progress	progressbar	No role beyond its own
q	generic	Any role
rp	none	Any role
rt	none	Any role
ruby	none	Any role
s	deletion	Any role
samp	generic	Any role
script	none	No role beyond its own
search	search	form, group, none, presentation, region
section	region	alert, alertdialog, application, banner, complementary, contentinfo, dialog, document, feed, group, log, main, marquee, navigation, none, note, presentation, search, status, tabpanel
select (with NO multiple attribute and NO size attribute having value greater than 1 )	combobox	menu
select (with a multiple attribute or a size attribute having value greater than 1 )	listbox	No role beyond its own
selectedcontent	generic	Conditional
slot	none	No role beyond its own
small	generic	Any role
source	none	No role beyond its own
span	generic	Any role
strong	strong	Any role
style	none	No role beyond its own
sub	subscript	Any role
summary	none	No role beyond its own
sup	superscript	Any role
SVG	graphics-document	Any role
table	table	Any role
tbody	rowgroup	Any role
td	none	Conditional
template	none	No role beyond its own
textarea	textbox	No role beyond its own
tfoot	rowgroup	Any role
th	none	Conditional
thead	rowgroup	Any role
time	time	Any role
title	none	No role beyond its own
tr	row	Conditional
track	none	No role beyond its own
u	generic	Any role
ul	list	group, listbox, menu, menubar, none, presentation, radiogroup, tablist, toolbar, tree
var	none	Any role
video	none	application
wbr	none	none, presentation

Everything here comes from the ARIA in HTML specification's table of ARIA attribute usage by HTML element, and each row carries the specification's own sentence. Nothing is uploaded. Snapshot taken 2026-08-03

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ARIA roles: which element needs one, and which already has it

Look up any HTML element and any ARIA role and find out whether you should write it, whether you may, or whether the element is already that thing.

What is an ARIA role?

An ARIA role tells assistive technology what a piece of markup is: a button, a navigation landmark, a heading, a dialog. You write it as role="button" and it changes how a screen reader announces the element and what a user can do with it.

WAI-ARIA defines the roles themselves. A second specification, ARIA in HTML, answers the question people actually arrive with — which roles may go on which HTML element — and it does so in a table covering 139 elements. That table is what this page is built from, and it is the one worth reading, because roles are not interchangeable across elements.

The single most useful thing in it is easy to miss. 81 of those 139 elements already carry a role without any attribute at all, and the table's own header says assigning those in markup is NOT RECOMMENDED. A button element is already a button. An h1 is already a heading with a level. Most of the time the correct answer to "which role goes here" is none.

How to use it

Type the element. Just the tag name — angle brackets and capitals are fine. Where the specification qualifies an element, a bare name resolves to the qualified row: typing a gets the rule for a with href.
Type the role you were about to write. You get one of four answers: the element already has it, it is allowed, it is not allowed here, or the rule is conditional and no straight answer exists.
Then look at the reverse index underneath. It lists the elements that already have that role with no attribute, separately from those that will merely accept it. That is usually the better way to solve the problem.

Redundant is not the same as wrong

Writing role="button" on a button element is valid markup. It is not an error and nothing will break. The specification marks it NOT RECOMMENDED because it adds nothing and because it can drift: change the element later and the role stays behind, now describing something that no longer exists. This page reports that case as its own verdict rather than folding it in with the genuine errors, since telling someone their working markup is broken is worse than saying nothing.

The genuinely disallowed cases are a different matter. 51 elements accept no role beyond the one they already have — main, body, html, base, caption and the rest — so role="navigation" on a main element is simply not permitted. 37 more accept only an enumerated set: an a with href will take button, checkbox, menuitem, menuitemcheckbox, menuitemradio, option, radio, switch, tab or tree, and nothing else. And 41 elements, the blank slates like span and abbr, accept any role at all.

That leaves the roles themselves, 75 of which the table names. If you need one, the reverse index is the shortcut: ask which elements already are a button before you decide to make one out of a div.

Ten elements where this page will not answer

Ten of the 139 rules are written with a condition, and the tool refuses to give a verdict on them rather than guessing. td, th and tr depend on the role of the ancestor table element. div depends on whether it is a direct child of dl. figure depends on whether it has a figcaption descendant. label depends on whether it is associated with a labelable element.

In every one of those cases the specification declines to state an unconditional rule, so a tool that produced a confident yes or no would be inventing one. The specification's own sentence is shown instead, to be read against your actual markup. That is the honest answer, and it is why this page shows the source text for every element rather than only its own summary.

Two further limits worth stating. This is the element table only — ARIA in HTML has two more tables, one about HTML features and one about which descendants a role allows, and neither is covered here. And the page tells you what is permitted, not what is a good idea: a permitted role can still be the wrong one, and no table can tell you whether your widget actually behaves like a tab.

Why is it free?

The table travels with the page as a few kilobytes and every lookup runs in your own browser. Nothing you type is uploaded, nothing is logged, and there is no account to create.

No sign-up, no limits, and no watermark on anything you copy.