How to fix aria roles on BigCommerce

Steps for BigCommerce

1. In your BigCommerce Admin, go to Storefront → My Themes → (active theme) → Advanced → Edit Theme Files (or download the theme for local editing).
2. Search Handlebars template files (`.html` files inside `templates/`) for `role=` — key files include `layout/base.html`, `components/header.html`, `components/footer.html`, and product/category templates.
3. Correct invalid role values in the relevant file, then upload the modified theme files via the theme editor or re-upload the theme zip.
4. For issues in third-party widgets or scripts injected via Script Manager (Storefront → Script Manager), locate the script and edit or replace the offending code, or contact the vendor.
5. Save, publish the theme, and verify with an accessibility audit tool.

<!-- ❌ INVALID — role value does not exist in WAI-ARIA spec -->
<div role="card">Featured Product</div>
<nav role="navagation">...</nav>
<div role="flyout">...</div>

<!-- ✅ VALID — use correct WAI-ARIA role or native HTML element -->
<div role="region" aria-label="Featured Product">Featured Product</div>
<nav>...</nav>  <!-- <nav> has implicit role="navigation" — no role attr needed -->
<div role="dialog" aria-modal="true" aria-label="Quick view">...</div>

What is aria roles?

ARIA roles are special HTML attributes (e.g., `role="button"`) that tell screen readers and other assistive technologies what an element *is* and how it should behave. The WAI-ARIA specification defines a strict list of allowed role values — words like `button`, `navigation`, `dialog`, `alert`, `banner`, etc. An invalid ARIA role means you've used a value that doesn't exist in that list (for example, a typo like `role="navagation"`, an invented word like `role="card"`, or an outdated value). When a role is invalid, assistive technology simply ignores it, stripping away the accessibility context you intended to provide. WCAG Success Criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value) requires that all user interface components have roles that can be understood by assistive technology.

Screen reader users — who are often customers with visual impairments — rely entirely on ARIA roles to understand your page's structure and interactive elements. An invalid role means a screen reader may announce an element incorrectly (e.g., as plain text instead of a button), or skip it entirely, making menus, modals, forms, and key navigation landmarks unusable. This creates a direct barrier for disabled shoppers, exposes your store to legal risk under laws like the ADA (US), AODA (Canada), EAA (EU), and UK Equality Act, and can result in costly litigation or regulatory complaints. Google also uses accessibility signals as part of its quality assessments, so pages with broken ARIA markup can underperform in organic search compared to well-structured competitors.

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