It's very common to see the usage of the tag <nav> in a main menu navigation, but I don't know other examples where I can use it. For example, for pagination:
<div class='my-pagination'>
<!-- first, 2, 3, 4 ... 8, 9, last -->
</div>
Can be:
<nav class='my-pagination'>
<!-- first, 2, 3, 4 ... 8, 9, last -->
</nav>
Is it semantic?
Yes.
The HTML5 spec defines the nav element like this:
The
navelement represents a section of a page that links to other pages or to parts within the page: a section with navigation links.
Pagination clearly consists of "links to other pages", and these are "navigation links". And in probably most cases it makes sense to use a sectioning content element for this.
Make sure to place the nav in the correct parent section:
If it’s a multi-paged article, the nav should be a child of the article.
<article>
<h1>Review of my new camera</h1>
<p>…</p>
<nav><!-- pagination for this article --></nav>
</article>
If it’s a multi-paged list of article teasers, the nav should be a child of the section containing this list.
<section>
<h1>All blog posts</h1>
<article><h1>Review of my new camera</h1></article>
<article><h1>I want to buy a camera, any suggestions?</h1></article>
<nav><!-- pagination for this blog posts list --></nav>
</section>
If it’s one full article per page, the nav should be a child of the body sectioning root.
<body>
<article><h1>Review of my new camera</h1></article>
<nav><!-- pagination for next/previous article --></nav>
</body>
Interesting question.
As per the official W3 Draft it seems that the nav would indeed be appropriate for use as a pagination container, particularly if it's intended for primary navigation (that is the whole page is a result set that can be paged through)
Not all groups of links on a page need to be in a nav element — the element is primarily intended for sections that consist of major navigation blocks. In particular, it is common for footers to have a short list of links to various pages of a site, such as the terms of service, the home page, and a copyright page. The footer element alone is sufficient for such cases; while a nav element can be used in such cases, it is usually unnecessary.
Depends on how you use your pagination. If you're doing it for search results and clicking the page link takes the user to a new url, then yes. If clicking the page button triggers a refresh of the search result content, then no.
the Nav element is designed to help users find links to other pages not to a set of button controls for a widget.
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