How to fix aria required parent on BigCommerce

Steps for BigCommerce

1. In your BigCommerce control panel, go to Storefront → My Themes → click 'Edit Theme Files' (Stencil CLI) or use 'Edit Theme' for the active theme.
2. Locate the Handlebars template rendering the flagged widget — commonly under `templates/components/products/tabs.html` or a custom partial.
3. Wrap the child role elements (e.g., elements with `role="tab"`) in a `<div role="tablist">` or appropriate container.
4. If using Page Builder widgets, switch to the HTML block editor for that widget and add the container role manually.
5. Push the updated theme via Stencil CLI (`stencil push`) or save in the control panel, then test with Chrome Accessibility Inspector.

<div role="tablist" aria-label="Product details">
  <button role="tab" aria-selected="true" aria-controls="panel-desc">Description</button>
  <button role="tab" aria-selected="false" aria-controls="panel-reviews">Reviews</button>
</div>
<div id="panel-desc" role="tabpanel">…</div>
<div id="panel-reviews" role="tabpanel" hidden>…</div>

What is aria required parent?

ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) is a set of HTML attributes that tell screen readers and other assistive technologies what a piece of content *is* and how it *behaves*. Many ARIA roles only make sense inside a specific parent container — for example, a `tab` must live inside a `tablist`, an `option` must live inside a `listbox`, and a `row` must live inside a `grid` or `rowgroup`. When that required parent wrapper is missing, the relationship between elements is broken at the code level. The WCAG 1.3.1 success criterion ("Info and Relationships") requires that structure and relationships conveyed visually are also conveyed in the code so assistive technologies can read them correctly.

Screen reader users — people who are blind or have low vision — rely entirely on the ARIA role hierarchy to understand interactive widgets like tabs, dropdowns, and tables. A missing parent role means a screen reader may announce each child element as an isolated, meaningless item with no context, making navigation confusing or impossible. Beyond the user experience impact, WCAG 1.3.1 is a Level A requirement (the minimum baseline), so failing it puts your store at risk of accessibility complaints or legal action under laws like the ADA (USA), EN 301 549 (EU), and the EAA (European Accessibility Act, mandatory from 2025). Fixing this also improves structured-data parsing, which can indirectly help search engine bots better interpret dynamic widgets on your pages.

See the complete Aria required parent guide for every platform and the full background.