A Modest Definition List Proposal

[Tom Humiston]

Found this unsent reply stuffed in my drafts folder...

On 19 Feb 2009, at 6:48 AM, Michel Fortin wrote:


> Definition lists are already some sort of specialized niche syntax  

> within Markdown and HTML: useful when you need one, but not  

> something a lot of people care for or even know it exists.


Definition lists are suitable for many kinds of term/value pairings,  
and not just definitions, but I had no concept of DLs as a flexible  
and handy semantic structure until I learned CSS. CSS encourages one  
to consider a document's *structure* (its HTML elements) as separate  
from its *presentation* (the appearance of those elements).

I now regularly mark up, say, each workshop in a list as a DT, with  
its details (description, cost, meeting times, contact info) as DDs.  
Other CSS users may prefer to use unordered lists or the like, and  
sometimes I do, too.

Is my use of DL appropriate? According to [Russ Weakley][1]:


> There are two points of view about the use of definition lists. Some  

> people believe that definition lists should only be used for terms  

> and definitions. Others believe that definition lists can be used to  

> tie together any items that have a direct relationship with each  

> other (name/value sets). This second point of view is supported by  

> an example within the W3C specifications:

>

>> Another application of DL, for example, is for marking up  

>> dialogues, with each DT naming a speaker, and each DD containing  

>> his or her words.

>

>

> Although some people disagree with this example, it does suggest  

> that definition lists can be used for more than simple terms and  

> definitions, as long as there is a direct relationship between the  

> items. [List of examples follows.]


[1]: http://www.maxdesign.com.au/articles/definition/