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Re: Trying to avoid using tables

for

From: Kynn Bartlett
Date: Aug 27, 2002 1:46PM

At 3:41 PM -0400 8/27/02, Andrew Kirkpatrick wrote:
>Kynn,
>I would think that using headers and paragraphs would make the content more
>accessible, at least using today's assistive technologies. I've always been
>a little uncomfortable using <dt> for anything apart from definitions - do
>you think that this is semantically correct?

Yes, it's correct. The <dl> isn't restricted to definitions only,
it's restricted to lists which are "like definitions". Specifically:

"Definition lists vary only slightly from other types of lists in that
list items consist of two parts: a term and a description. The
term is given by the DT element and is restricted to inline
content. The description is given with a DD element that
contains block-level content."
http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/lists.html#h-10.3

The operative word for the <dd> is _description_ and not
_definition_. The description does not need to define the term,
only describe it. And the block-level content "Accessibility
Consultant <br> blah blah blah" is a description for the time
period "July 1998 to present".

Note the standard also says:

"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."

Clearly, <dl> is not intended to be used exclusively for
definitions.

--Kynn



--
Kynn Bartlett < <EMAIL REMOVED> > http://kynn.com
Chief Technologist, Idyll Mountain http://idyllmtn.com
Next Book: Teach Yourself CSS in 24 http://cssin24hours.com
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