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Acceptable use of the HTML DL element?

for

From: Patrick Dunphy
Date: Jun 18, 2010 3:54PM

Hey Everyone..

I'm working on a large scale project where different navigation menus are
present depending on your location within the site. The current markup
being implemented has been done via DL's which in my understanding is an
incorrect implementation from an accessibilty POV.

For example..

<dl>
<dt>Section Name</dt>
<dd><a href="/section/a/">Section A</a></dd>
<dd><a href="/section/b/">Section B</a></dd>
<dd><a href="/section/c/">Section C</a></dd>
<dd><a href="/section/d/">Section D</a></dd>
....
</dl>

For it to be truly semantic & meaningful markup doesn't this need to be
converted to an unordered list? Technically speaking a groups of links are
not data definitions as described above. In addition it's not recognized as
a navigation/menubar using the firefox accessibility toolbar.

I'm working with some highly skilled developers that have been working using
this practice for some time - but with limited accessibility exposure. I do
expect pushback on my recommended changes and would appreciate any advice on
how to communicate the importance of this type of change.


Thanks!
-PD