Compare:

with:

I think next and previous links have become standard. I certainly expect to see them whenever I'm viewing paginated content. If they are too verbose in some languages then its just a matter of substituting + and - in the langauge file or whatever symbol you happen to prefer (laquo and raquo or not really a good idea as I think most people would read those as first and last, better just to use < and >).

That would look much better - if  'Previous' and 'Next' in the lang file could just be replaced with < and > as you mentioned. Invision Power Board and vBulletin also display their previous and next links by using < and >. Could this change perhaps be made in the core?

Changing the language strings to empty is not a good idea, not unless the generation of the links was made conditional upon the langauge string having a value. Otherwise you would end up with an empty link tag. I would actually prefer making them vanish with css which leaves them in place for screenreaders and text browsers. If the link tag were given a class then it would also be possible to substitute a background img (an arrow or something) as well as making them vanish. You just give the link zero width which removes the text and enough left/right padding for the graphic.

MattF wrote:

...so that they can at least be hidden if desired?

Change the language entries for Previous/Next links to an empty string.

That's my muppet moment for the week highlighted and done.

Apologies. I thought you were still the one who had final say on all things markup related.

Just out of curiosity, what other benefits, (other than the obvious visual markers), do those prev/next links have?

...so that they can at least be hidden if desired?

Change the language entries for Previous/Next links to an empty string.

I think next and previous links have become standard. I certainly expect to see them whenever I'm viewing paginated content. If they are too verbose in some languages then its just a matter of substituting + and - in the langauge file or whatever symbol you happen to prefer (laquo and raquo or not really a good idea as I think most people would read those as first and last, better just to use < and >).

They're obviously stopping in, by the sounds of it, so would it not be best to at least put them in span tags or suchlike, (if they aren't already), so that they can at least be hidden if desired?

I use signs &laquo; and &raquo; on my forum : Example
As I say on the first post.

Thus, in some language, as french words ("Précédente" and "Suivante"), that takes more space.