Prior to the 1.12 release, a helper with the name "My_View_Helper_Navigation_Menu" can not be used, because the proxy helper returns always the standard view helper "Zend_View_Helper_Navigation_Menu".

Starting from version 1.12, you can use our own navigation helpers with the name "menu", "breadcrumbs", ...

Create your own helper with name "Menu":

class My_View_Helper_Navigation_Menu
    extends Zend_View_Helper_Navigation_HelperAbstract
{
    public function menu(Zend_Navigation_Container $container = null)
    {
        if (null !== $container) {
            $this->setContainer($container);
        }

        return $this;
    }

    public function render(Zend_Navigation_Container $container = null)
    {
        return '<nav>Example</nav>';
    }
}

Add the helper path to Zend_View in your Bootstrap class:

    protected function _initView()
    {
        $this->bootstrap('view');
        $this->view->addHelperPath(
            'path/to/helper',
            'My_View_Helper_Navigation'
        );
    }

Or add the helper path in your "application.ini" file:

resources.view.helperPath.My_View_Helper_Navigation = "path/to/helper"

The following code is used in a view script:

<?php echo $this->navigation()->menu(); ?>

Output:

<nav>Example</nav>