HTML5 nav element inside footer
I've read in several places that there's no need to use <nav> inside <footer> when all you're linking to is copyright, terms and conditions, etc.
However, a site I'm working on has these links in the footer: News, Careers, Privacy. Obviously Privacy fits the above description for not using <nav>. But News and Careers - although they're obviously not being given as much weight as items in the main nav at the top - are significant areas of content, which aren't linked to from elsewhere. Would these justify the use of <nav>?
My guess is yes, but I'm a HTML5 newbie, so I thought I'd ask for a second opinion!
Answer
As the W3C specification states
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.
Note the very last sentence - even if it's not recommended you can use the <nav> element even for the TOS, Privacy etc.
In your case, when you have other significant navigation elements(Careers, News), I think it's totally valid and semantically correct to use the <nav> element in your <footer>