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Should we use rel attributes (HTML5) in site navigation

Just a simple question, but one for which I cannot find any suggestions.

The supported HTML5 values ​​that are appropriate are as follows:

  • Author
  • first
  • the last
  • Following
  • before
  • help
  • license (not "license")

Example

Navigation consisting of index, contact, contact and legal

.. in terms of the index.html page:

  • index.html with rel = "first"
  • about.html with rel = author next "
  • contact.html with rel = "help"
  • legal.html with rel = "license last"

... in terms of the contact.html page:

  • index.html with rel = "first"
  • about.html with rel = author prev "
  • contact.html with rel = "help"
  • legal.html with rel = "license next last"

I agree that using rel in navigation will be very small; but it may help search engines in some way.

I gave examples as demonstrations of how this will work in practice and for criticism!

Regards, Dale

Edits examples from comments below

Navigation consisting of index, contact, contact and legal

.. in terms of the index.html page:

  • index.html without rel
  • about.html with rel = author "
  • contact.html with rel = "help"
  • legal.html with rel = "license"

... in terms of the contact.html page:

  • index.html without rel
  • about.html with rel = author "
  • contact.html with rel = "help"
  • legal.html with rel = "license"
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html5 navigation rel nav
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2 answers

Good question! Honestly, I'm not an expert with the rel attribute (so someone correct me if I am wrong), but from what I can find, Google can confirm the identification of the web page through the attribute. For example,

<a rel="me" href="https://plus.google.com/110037486217106671520">Luke Southam</a>

I know that this does not apply to site navigation, but shows that Google reads and indexes the attribute in the <a></a> tag. Regarding the use of it in site navigation, if it (possibly) helps Google (or other search engines) better index your site, I say, follow it.

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Yes, you can use rel for links in navigation. Because...

... you can use rel for each link.

With the appropriate type of link, that is. You can only use a specific set of defined and registered rel values in HTML5.

first and last , next and prev

first and last no longer defined in the HTML5 specification. In the Microformats wiki page, existing rel values are listed as synonyms for begin and end , which are defined as:

identifies the authorized start [/ end] of the document sequence, the current document of which is node.

Therefore, they are not suitable for typical site navigation. Use them when related documents need to be read in a specific order.

next and prev defined in the HTML5 specification:

[...] indicates that the document is part of the sequence [...]

The same arguments as above for first / last : use it only if there is a certain order (which does not apply to navigation consisting of "O", "Contact", "Legal", ...), Most noticeable use would be pagination.

author

author link type

indicates that the referenced document provides additional information about the author of the closest ancestor of the article element of the element defining the hyperlink, if any, or the page as a whole, otherwise.

You just need to make sure that your navigation (for example, this author link) is not a child of the article element (which would be very unusual for site navigation).

help

help link type is defined as:

For a and area elements, the help keyword indicates that the referenced document provides additional reference information for the parent of the element that defines the hyperlink and its children.

Thus, this does not seem appropriate (even if the Contact page provides “additional reference information”, since it will be technically the help of the navigation itself (→ the parent link element), and not for the entire page (this is only the case if it is used in the link element in the head , or if the help link is a direct child of the body .)

license

license link type

[...] indicates that the referenced document contains the terms of the copyright license under which the main content of the current document is provided.

This seems to be necessary (if your Legal page contains these conditions).

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