feat(aria-roles): add sectionheader and sectionfooter roles by chutchins25 · Pull Request #5238 · dequelabs/axe-core

chutchins25 · 2026-07-22T23:01:18Z

Adds the new ARIA 1.3 sectionheader and sectionfooter roles to axe-core's standards data.

What & why

Per w3c/aria#1931 (merged into the ARIA spec main), sectionheader and sectionfooter are new concrete structural roles with superclass section. axe-core did not recognize them, so role="sectionheader" / role="sectionfooter" were flagged as invalid roles.

Definitions were grounded directly against the spec source (w3c/aria main):

roleInfo.js — parentRoles: ["section"], no required / prohibited / local (non-global) properties.
index.html characteristics table — Is Abstract: no (concrete), Name From: author (so no nameFromContent), Accessible Name Required: no.

They are modeled on the existing blockquote precedent (type: 'structure', superclassRole: ['section']).

Note on scope — bundling `sectionfooter`

The issue (#4734) names only sectionheader, but the spec introduced sectionheader and sectionfooter together and there is no separate sectionfooter issue. They are bundled here as one cohesive "ARIA 1.3 section header/footer roles" change.

Out of scope / follow-up

The updated HTML-AAM implicit-role mapping (<header> / <footer> scoped inside sectioning content → implicit sectionheader / sectionfooter) is not included here — it has a much larger blast radius (landmark/region computations, aria-allowed-role) and will be tracked as a separate issue.

Tests

aria-roles integration HTML/JSON — pass cases for both roles.
aria-roles virtual-rule — pass cases for both roles.
Verified abstractrole / fallbackrole / unsupportedrole / aria-allowed-role check suites still pass.

Closes #4734

Adds the ARIA 1.3 sectionheader and sectionfooter roles (w3c/aria#1931) as concrete structural roles with superclass section. Closes #4734

straker

Looks good, just the one thing below.

straker · 2026-07-23T15:31:58Z

+
+  it('should pass for the sectionheader role', () => {
+    const results = axe.runVirtualRule('aria-roles', {
+      nodeName: 'div',
+      attributes: {
+        role: 'sectionheader'
+      }
+    });
+
+    assert.lengthOf(results.passes, 1);
+    assert.lengthOf(results.violations, 0);
+    assert.lengthOf(results.incomplete, 0);
+  });
+
+  it('should pass for the sectionfooter role', () => {
+    const results = axe.runVirtualRule('aria-roles', {
+      nodeName: 'div',
+      attributes: {
+        role: 'sectionfooter'
+      }
+    });
+
+    assert.lengthOf(results.passes, 1);
+    assert.lengthOf(results.violations, 0);
+    assert.lengthOf(results.incomplete, 0);
+  });


These aren't needed

Removed — role validity is already covered by the aria-roles integration tests.

…-rule cases Address review feedback: role validity is already covered by the aria-roles integration tests.

Resolved

Garbee

Talking about the commit reference internally before merging.

Resolved

All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file. See [commit-and-tag-version](https://github.com/absolute-version/commit-and-tag-version) for commit guidelines. ## [4.13.0](v4.12.1...v4.13.0) (2026-08-05) ### Features - **aria-actions:** add aria-actions to allowed ARIA attributes ([#5200](#5200)) ([029655d](029655d)), closes [#4584](#4584) [#5199](#5199), references [#5215](#5215) [#5215](#5215) - **aria-allowed-attr:** flag deprecated ARIA attributes as needs-review ([#5246](#5246)) ([518f3cc](518f3cc)), closes [#3341](#3341) - **aria-prohibited-attr:** allow many elements to be named and disallow label and body from being named ([#5259](#5259)) ([d8b1ea5](d8b1ea5)) - **aria-roles:** add sectionheader and sectionfooter roles ([#5238](#5238)) ([c36c109](c36c109)), closes [#4734](#4734), references [#4734](#4734) - **aria/get-aria-value:** new function to get aria values of a node ([#5109](#5109)) ([a7d8f3e](a7d8f3e)), references [#5042](#5042) - **aria/has-attr-value:** new function to check if node has aria value ([#5136](#5136)) ([61f2624](61f2624)), references [#5109](#5109) - **aria:** support role=image as equivalent to role=img ([#5248](#5248)) ([5aa8aaf](5aa8aaf)), closes [#4656](#4656), references [#5272](#5272) - **checks/aria:** support ARIA element internals properties ([#5172](#5172)) ([9b7f754](9b7f754)) - **checks/label:** support ARIA element internals properties ([#5170](#5170)) ([21c5f8b](21c5f8b)) - **checks/navigation:** support ARIA element internals properties ([#5167](#5167)) ([2c3a98f](2c3a98f)) - **commons/aria:** support ARIA element internals properties ([#5171](#5171)) ([31f09e7](31f09e7)) - **commons/dom:** support ARIA element internals properties ([#5163](#5163)) ([f0a12cf](f0a12cf)) - **commons/forms:** support ARIA element internals properties ([#5165](#5165)) ([27a4686](27a4686)) - **commons/matches/fromPrimative:** deprecate in favor of correct spelling ([#5270](#5270)) ([31cfb2e](31cfb2e)) - **commons/text:** support ARIA element internals properties ([#5169](#5169)) ([e841a33](e841a33)) - **commons/text:** support form-associated labels via element internals ([#5182](#5182)) ([57cfe0a](57cfe0a)), closes [#5045](#5045), references [#5170](#5170) [#5039](#5039) [#5151](#5151) [#5039](#5039) - **dom/getResolvedRefs:** new function to get the resolved virtual nodes of idrefs ([#5151](#5151)) ([489cdea](489cdea)), references [#5109](#5109) - **element-internals:** enable ElementInternals by default ([#5284](#5284)) ([2740d42](2740d42)), closes [#5277](#5277) - **i18n:** Add Swedish locale ([#5190](#5190)) ([dcd13f2](dcd13f2)), references [#5189](#5189) - **matches:** add inSectioningContent, hasChild, and isSummaryForDetails matches ([#5262](#5262)) ([c47cdcd](c47cdcd)) - **rules:** support ARIA element internals properties ([#5168](#5168)) ([065baf7](065baf7)) - **standards/ariaAttrs:** add caseInsensitive property for attributes ([#5224](#5224)) ([bcd791c](bcd791c)) ### Bug Fixes - **aria-allowed-role:** allow roles on a non-details summary ([#5242](#5242)) ([3bd9875](3bd9875)), closes [#3911](#3911), references [#3443](#3443) [#3911](#3911) - **aria-allowed-role:** restrict figure roles with child figcaption ([#5240](#5240)) ([178a635](178a635)), closes [#3443](#3443) - **aria-prohibited-attr:** visible aria-labelledby requires review only ([#5285](#5285)) ([fd6fa9f](fd6fa9f)) - **axe.d.ts:** make enabled property of RuleMetadata optional ([#5129](#5129)) ([90fce18](90fce18)) - **color-contrast:** fix various stacking context bugs ([#5214](#5214)) ([d5e5b04](d5e5b04)), references [#8](#8) [#5213](#5213) - **gather-internals:** handle non-HTMLElement nodes ([#5161](#5161)) ([06e84c3](06e84c3)) - **get-selector:** escape control characters in attribute selectors ([#5273](#5273)) ([4b60ac5](4b60ac5)), closes [#5204](#5204) [#5204](#5204) - **image-alt:** allow whitespace alt on presentational images ([#5218](#5218)) ([c5dd0ef](c5dd0ef)), closes [#5216](#5216) - **landmark-unique:** exclude section/form with non-landmark roles from landmark match ([#5085](#5085)) ([c5fd013](c5fd013)), closes [#4722](#4722) [#5064](#5064) - name the image role in role-img-alt and svg-img-alt metadata ([#5279](#5279)) ([995a269](995a269)), closes [#5272](#5272), references [#5248](#5248) [#5248](#5248) - **standards:** update aria-errormessage and aria-details to be idrefs ([#5157](#5157)) ([fb94f8a](fb94f8a)) This PR was opened by a robot 🤖 🎉

feat(aria-roles): add sectionheader and sectionfooter roles

c4d4eaa

Adds the ARIA 1.3 sectionheader and sectionfooter roles (w3c/aria#1931) as concrete structural roles with superclass section. Closes #4734

straker previously requested changes Jul 23, 2026

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test(aria-roles): remove unneeded sectionheader/sectionfooter virtual…

5d60aab

…-rule cases Address review feedback: role validity is already covered by the aria-roles integration tests.

straker marked this pull request as ready for review July 27, 2026 19:53

straker requested a review from a team as a code owner July 27, 2026 19:53

straker approved these changes Jul 27, 2026

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Garbee previously requested changes Jul 28, 2026

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chutchins25 force-pushed the chut/4734-sectionheader branch from 0690106 to 5d60aab Compare July 29, 2026 15:10

Merge branch 'develop' into chut/4734-sectionheader

ac3b36f

straker merged commit c36c109 into develop Jul 29, 2026
23 checks passed

straker deleted the chut/4734-sectionheader branch July 29, 2026 19:43

attest-team-ci mentioned this pull request Aug 5, 2026

chore(release): v4.13.0 #5288

Merged

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feat(aria-roles): add sectionheader and sectionfooter roles - #5238

feat(aria-roles): add sectionheader and sectionfooter roles#5238
straker merged 3 commits into
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chutchins25 commented Jul 22, 2026

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chutchins25 commented Jul 22, 2026

What & why

Note on scope — bundling sectionfooter

Out of scope / follow-up

Tests

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Note on scope — bundling `sectionfooter`