I'm finding the spec for the "note" role quite vague and thin on detail. I think I need to use this role quite a bit, but I am simply not certain.

The preamble currently consists of a single line of text, which could mean many or few things, depending on interpretation.

"A section whose content is parenthetic or ancillary to the main content of the resource."

I'm particularly bothered by the use of the word "main" here. Does this mean role=main? Does "resource" mean the note itself? The page?

I have put in the hours with Funk and Lewis, so "parenthetic or ancillary" don't have me reaching for a dictionary, however it strikes me that "parenthetic or ancillary" is not exactly "plain language". Can we find replacements for these that doesn't sound like jargon, or perhaps offer some definitions?

That's the copy mentioned. Now for the actual spec.

The following semantic cases may or may not call for a "note", but the spec leaves plenty of room for doubt.

• An note in (part of) the page that is not the main content (e.g. contentinfo or navigation)
• An annotation of a specific element or part
• A comment by an editor about a particular chunk of copy
• A notification
• A note with a close button

If "note" is the wrong thing for annotations. Do we need another role, or is there already a better candidate today?

Also, for authoring practices:

• How do notes best fit into read order?
• If annotations are notes, should the note come before/after the element they annotate?
• Is there a class of notes that might be live regions by default? (e.g. notifications).
• Would it be useful to include an example of an annotation using (say) aria-describedby to link the annotation to the annotated.
• What other attribute might reliably connect an annotation to something?