On 09/01/2011 13:32, Jason Grant wrote:
This is a 'too early' post as HTML5 <nav> nor <menu> aren't really
supported yet in any major browsers.
So, we are speculating about how browsers might interpret these elements.
You can read the HTML5 spec and see what is says about those tags, but
at the end of the day browser implementation is going to dictate what is
right or wrong.
For now I would strongly suggest not putting either in your code, as you
are simply adding bloat which serves no purpose whatsoever (until
browsers start implementing these tags).
Focus on the code which is going to deliver some value to your UI.
<nav> doesn't have any new functionality of behaviour...it's simply a
new structural element to denote navigation in a machine-readable way
(like header, footer, aside, etc). It's a slightly more specific
alternative to the generic <div>. Even once all browsers natively
support it (giving it default block-level styling, amongst other
things), they won't do anything different with it afaik. It's safe to
use (with the usual caveat of IE support for unknown elements like this
having to be plugged in via html5shim and default display:block styling
having to be explicitly given).
<menu> on the other hand is a planned interactive element. it is indeed
meant for context menus, toolbars, etc, and once supported browsers will
actually "do" something new and different with it.
So long story short: between the two, I'd opt for nav. And (if you can
live with the IE need for scripting) it's safe to use, though you won't
get any benefit from it as such (other than more explicit semantics
which *may* be of benefit to tools like screenreaders or search engine
bots in future). But yes, failing all that, there's nothing wrong with a
traditional <div id="nav"> or whatever...
P
--
Patrick H. Lauke
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