Allowing main element as well as main role

[votemike]

Summary

Allow <main> as well as <element role="main'> as this is even more valid.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Accessibility/ARIA/Roles/Main_role

The <main> element has a role of main.

Details

Also changed message to that people are aware they can use the <main> element.

Motivation and Context

NextJS uses a <main> element by default, but bbc-a11y does not like that there is no role="main"

How Has This Been Tested?

Added/updated tests

Screenshots (if appropriate):

Types of changes

• Bug fix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue)
• New feature (non-breaking change which adds functionality)
• Breaking change (fix or feature that would cause existing functionality to not work as expected)

Checklist:

• I've added tests for my code
• My change requires a change to the documentation.
• I have updated the documentation accordingly.

[andymsuk]

Hi @votemike

Thanks for your PR! This kind of change has been suggested before in #328 but it was declined - see that PR for reasoning.

@EmmaJP & @JamieKnightBBC - Can I check our position hasn't changed on requiring role="main" and not just accepting <main>?

[votemike]

I see. That's a pain. It seems like that is because <main> is an HTML 5 element that IE11 doesn't understand (and therefore doesn't apply the role to).
However, that means that in order for any website to use the bbc-a11y tool, they have to comply with the minimum browser requirements as set by the tool. I think it should be optional.
Would there be scope for options to be passed in to the tool surrounding minimum browser requirements?
And if you'd like another reason... I've heard they're sunsetting Internet Explorer entirely.

[EmmaJP]

We actually looked at this again fairly recently, when updating the HTML guidance (refer https://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/forproducts/guides/html/landmarks/) and our conversation still steered us toward including the explicit role attribute and not solely relying on support for the native element.

Hopefully at some point in the not too distant future all browsers the BBC has to be mindful of will have full support of the native elements, as the older browsers become less used.

[votemike]

Support for IE11 (and all IEs) runs out next Wednesday on June 15, 2022. https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2021/05/19/the-future-of-internet-explorer-on-windows-10-is-in-microsoft-edge/

Is it worth reviewing this now?

[github-actions]

This PR is stale because it has been open 45 days with no activity. Remove stale label or comment or this will be closed in 10 days.

[votemike]

@EmmaJP @andymsuk could we merge this now the IE support has run out?

[andymsuk]

Hi @votemike,

@EmmaJP and I both no longer work for BBC so we no longer maintain this repo.

@nicholasgriffintn - are you contributing to this repo now? Do you know who else is maintaining?

[nicholasgriffintn]

@nicholasgriffintn - are you contributing to this repo now? Do you know who else is maintaining?

I'm not contributing directory no, just sorted out some of the contributing stuff and the CI, there are a few talks about this repo internally going on, I'm not sure about if this is going to happen or not, at all tbh.

[github-actions]

This PR is stale because it has been open 45 days with no activity. Remove stale label or comment or this will be closed in 10 days.

[nicholasgriffintn]

Looking at out guidelines: https://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/forproducts/guides/html/landmarks/

role="main" is still required (in the testing section) and it has to abide by those, so unless that gets updated, I don't think this will be a change that can be merged, independent of IE support.

Rather than keeping this PR alive by removing the stale label, I've created a discussion for it here: #372