It's easy to present a special use example as a benefit over the current trend. It doesn't mean it would hold up over multiple comparisons.

Although, any example that I could provide that would show the exception would also likely be a special use example. So it turns into a your mileage may vary situation.

But, I've not always seen a slightly shorter amount of typing as a benefit to this sort of thing.

And what does

    <main role="main"> 

buy us?

You only have to specify the role for IE, once that complies you can use <main> rather than <div role="main"> or <main role="main">

Thanks. I just thought I was having a Mugatu moment.