Requires landmarks to have unique names

Rule ID:

unique-landmark

Category:

Accessibility

Standards:

-

Fixable:

No

When the same type of landmark is present more than once in the same document each must be uniquely identifiable with a non-empty and unique name. For instance, if the document has two <nav> elements each of them need an accessible name to be distinguished from each other.

This could be as simple as aria-label="Primary" and aria-label="Secondary" or if they have headings associated with them aria-labelledby can reference the heading. The names should not include the name of the landmark as Assistive Technology (AT) typically reads out the landmark as well so aria-label="Primary navigation" would be read as "Primary navigation navigation".

The following elements / roles are considered landmarks:

• aside or [role="complementary"]
• footer or [role="contentinfo"]
• form or [role="form"]
• header or [role="banner"]
• main or [role="main"]
• nav or [role="navigation"]
• section or [role="region"]

Some exceptions apply:

• <footer> and <header> are not considered landmarks if they are nested under <main> or sectioning content.
• <form> and <section> is only considered a landmark if it has been given an explicit name.

If the landmark is only present at most once the name does not have to be set.

Rule details

Examples of incorrect code for this rule:

<nav>lorem ipsum</nav>
<nav>dolor sit amet</nav>

error: Landmarks must have a non-empty and unique accessible name (aria-label or aria-labelledby) (unique-landmark)
> 1 | <nav>lorem ipsum</nav>
    |  ^^^
  2 | <nav>dolor sit amet</nav>


error: Landmarks must have a non-empty and unique accessible name (aria-label or aria-labelledby) (unique-landmark)
  1 | <nav>lorem ipsum</nav>
> 2 | <nav>dolor sit amet</nav>
    |  ^^^


2 errors found.

Examples of correct code for this rule:

<nav aria-label="Primary">lorem ipsum</nav>
<h2 id="secondary-nav-heading">Secondary</h2>
<nav aria-labelledby="secondary-nav-heading">dolor sit amet</nav>

Version history

• 8.9.1 - Exceptions for <footer>, <form>, <header> and <section> added.
• 8.9.0 - Rule added.