Is it a good idea to use html5 data attributes for javascript selectors?

Question

I'm trying to make it really obvious in the DOM that javascript code depends on the structure. Is the following a good idea?

HTML:
<a class='submenu' data-submenu="true" .... </a>

JS:
var mySubnav = $("[data-submenu]");

Makes it really clear that javascript is operating on the html. But I haven't seen this used by other people.

Answer 1

I'm not sure why you can't just use classes for this case? If your links have a subnav class that's far more compatible and easy to parse, plus stylable, than a data-submenu attribute.