What ARIA attribute is used to link parent roles to children when they cannot be nested inside?

The attribute that is used to link parent roles to children when they cannot be nested inside is aria-owns. This ARIA attribute indicates that an element is the owner of another element or elements, establishing a relationship where semantic meaning is necessary but physical nesting is not possible.

This is particularly useful in scenarios where complex interfaces are being constructed and elements may be visually or logically related without being part of the same parent-child structure in the markup. By using aria-owns, developers ensure that assistive technologies can correctly interpret the relationship between the elements, providing a better user experience for individuals who rely on screen readers and other accessibility tools.

For instance, in a scenario where a sidebar contains a list of items that belong to a main content area but cannot be nested in the HTML structure, using aria-owns helps communicate that relationship clearly. This enhances the semantic understanding of the document structure for users who rely on assistive technologies, ensuring they have an accurate representation of the relationships within the interface.