ARIA: banner role

The banner role is for defining a global site header, which usually includes a logo, company name, search icon, and possibly a slogan, generally at the top of the page.

<div role="banner">
  <img src="companylogo.svg" alt="my company name" />
  <h1>Title</h1>
  <p>Subtitle</p>
</div>

By default, the HTML5 <header> element has an identical meaning to the banner landmark, unless it is a descendant of <aside>, <article>, <main>, <nav>, or <section>, at which point <header> is the heading for that section, and not the equivalent of the site-wide banner.

A banner landmark role converts the container element upon which it is applied into a header. It should be reserved for the site header content that is common across the site generally at the top of every page.

The banner typically includes things such as a logo or corporate identity, or possibly a site-specific search tool, and is generally what your marketing team would call the "header" or "top banner" of the site. If the header element technique is not being used for that banner, a declaration of role="banner" should be used to define a banner landmark to assistive technologies.

Assistive technologies can identify the main header element of a page as the banner if is a descendant of the body element, and not nested within an article, aside, main, nav or section subsection.

Each page may have a banner landmark, but each page should be limited to only one header with the role of banner. In the case of a page containing nested document and/or application roles, each nested document or application role may also have one banner landmark. If a page includes more than one banner landmark, each should have a unique label.

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Here's a fake simple banner with a skip to navigation link, a logo, a title and a subtitle. As this is the main header for the site, we've added the banner landmark role to the container element.

<div role="banner">
  <a href="#nav" id="skipToMenu" class="skiptocontent">Skip To Keyboard Navigation</a>
  <img src="images/w3c.png" alt="W3C Logo">
  <h1>ARIA Landmarks</h1>
  <p>Identifying page subsections for easy navigation</p>
</div>

We could also have written the above with the HTML header element:

<header>
  <img src="images/w3c.png" alt="W3C Logo">
  <h1>ARIA Landmarks</h1>
  <p>Identifying page subsections for easy navigation</p>
</header>

While it is best to use the header element and ensure it is not a descendant of any subsection of the page, sometimes you don't have access to the underlying HTML. If this is the case, you can add the role of banner to the main header of the page with JavaScript. Identifying the page's banner in this way will help improve the site's accessibility.

• HTML header element
• WC3 Landmarks Example