HTML5 has a set of elements that make page structure more accessible to assistive technologies (ATs). The <header>, <footer>, <nav>, <article>, <aside> and <section> elements make it possible for ATs such as screen readers to identify the purpose of chunks of content on the page. But a growing school of thought says that there is one element missing from this set of semantically important tags.
The <main> element would formalise the common practice of using id="main" or id="content" on the containing element of the main content area. It would also map the semantics and function of the role="main" ARIA landmark. The reasons for proposing this new element are compelling. HTML traditionally provides elements for marking up specific semantic structures. There is an established pattern of mapping those elements to roles, states and properties in browser accessibility APIs. It’s the availability of information via the accessibility APIs that enables ATs to identify the element and inform the user about its purpose.
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