Create an arguably cleaner nav menu in WordPress. Version 1 replacing the LI elements in a WordPress menu with SPAN elements, while maintaining classes, etc., while version 2 results in just A elements, still maintaining all the classes, etc. Post: http://zoerooney.com/blog/tutorials/removing-list-items-wordpress-menus/

no-li-nav-menu-v1.php

<?php 

// first let's get our nav menu using the regular wp_nav_menu() function with special parameters
$cleanmenu = wp_nav_menu( array( 
	'theme_location' => 'social', // we've registered a theme location in functions.php
 	'container' => false, // this is usually a div outside the menu ul, we don't need it
	'items_wrap' => '<nav id="%1$s" class="%2$s">%3$s</nav>', // replacing the ul with nav
	'echo' => false, // don't display it just yet
) );

// now we're ready to display, but when we do we'll replace the li elements with spans
echo str_replace( 'li', 'span', $cleanmenu ); 

?>

no-li-nav-menu-v2.php

<?php 

// first let's get our nav menu using the regular wp_nav_menu() function with special parameters
$cleanermenu = wp_nav_menu( array( 
	'theme_location' => 'social', // we've registered a theme location in functions.php
 	'container' => false, // this is usually a div outside the menu ul, we don't need it
	'items_wrap' => '<nav id="%1$s" class="%2$s">%3$s</nav>', // replacing the ul with nav
	'echo' => false, // don't display it just yet, instead we're storing it in the variable $cleanermenu
) );

// Find the closing bracket of each li and the opening of the link, then all instances of "li"
$find = array('><a','li');
// Replace the former with nothing (a.k.a. delete) and the latter with "a"
$replace = array('','a')
echo str_replace( $find, $replace, $cleanermenu );

?>

various-sample-outputs.html

<!-- The "standard" output format, sanitized/ truncated for legibility, with custom class and link opening in new window -->
<div class="menu-upper-menu-container">
    <ul id="menu-upper-menu" class="menu">
        <li id="menu-item-1" class="twitter menu-item current-menu-item">
            <a href="http://twitter.com/username" target="_blank">Blog</a>
        </li>
        <li><a><!-- you get the idea ---></a></li>
        <li><a><!-- ... ---></a></li>
    </ul>
</div>

<!-- The output from version 1 -->
<nav id="menu-upper-menu" class="menu">
    <span id="menu-item-1" class="twitter menu-item current-menu-item">
        <a href="http://twitter.com/username" target="_blank">Blog</a>
    </span>
    <span><a><!-- you get the idea ---></a></span>
    <span><a><!-- ... ---></a></v>
</nav>

<!-- The output from version 2 -->
<nav id="menu-upper-menu" class="menu">
    <a id="menu-item-1" class="twitter menu-item current-menu-item" href="http://twitter.com/username" target="_blank">Blog</a>
    <a><!-- you get the idea ---></a>
    <a><!-- ... ---></a>
</nav>

This works fine until you have a menu item with 'li' in the title e.g. 'Public'. Replaces the li in the text and Url with an a