How to fix region on BigCommerce

Steps for BigCommerce

1. In BigCommerce Admin go to Storefront → My Themes → click Customize on your active theme → then Edit Theme Files (Advanced).
2. Open `templates/layout/base.html` — this is the master layout. Verify the header markup uses `<header role="banner">`, the main nav uses `<nav aria-label="Main navigation">`, and the page body region uses `<main id="content" role="main">`.
3. Open `templates/layout/footer.html` (or the footer partial) and confirm it uses `<footer role="contentinfo">`.
4. Check partial templates in `templates/components/` for promotional or utility blocks (e.g. banners, breadcrumbs). Ensure they render inside the relevant landmark in `base.html`, not in a raw `<div>` outside it.
5. If a component must stay as a `<div>`, add `role="region"` and `aria-label="[Description]"` to its outermost element in the component's Handlebars file.
6. Save, then preview the theme and run axe DevTools to confirm the fix.

<header role="banner">
  <nav aria-label="Main menu"><!-- navigation links --></nav>
</header>

<main id="main-content" role="main">
  <!-- all primary page content goes here -->
</main>

<aside role="complementary" aria-label="Promotions">
  <!-- sidebar or supplementary content -->
</aside>

<footer role="contentinfo">
  <!-- footer links and legal text -->
</footer>

<!-- If a div cannot become a semantic element: -->
<div role="region" aria-label="Customer Reviews">
  <!-- review content -->
</div>

What is region?

Landmarks are special HTML tags or ARIA attributes that divide a web page into named regions — like the main content area, navigation menu, page header, and footer. Screen readers and other assistive technologies use these regions as a table of contents, letting users jump directly to the part of the page they need. When content sits outside any landmark, assistive technology users cannot locate or skip to it. This is what the "region" accessibility rule checks: it flags any significant block of content that is not wrapped in one of these landmark containers.

Approximately 7 million Americans use screen readers, and landmarks are one of the most fundamental navigation tools they rely on. Without them, a screen-reader user must listen to your entire page linearly just to find the product listing or checkout button — a frustrating experience that causes them to leave. Beyond lost sales, WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.3.6 (and the broader WCAG framework) requires content to be programmatically determinable; failure exposes your store to ADA/Section 508 accessibility complaints and litigation, which are rising year-on-year in the US and EU (EAA 2025). Search engines also use landmark structure to understand page hierarchy, so fixing this can modestly reinforce your on-page SEO signals as well.

See the complete Region guide for every platform and the full background.