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Re: Quick Response Needed - DL or UL?

for

From: Bryan Garaventa
Date: Apr 24, 2015 10:52AM

> I am wondering in what circumstances a "heading structure" would be an
> appropriate replacement for a list (especially a definition list). I have
> the opposite problem at the moment with a client who used a DL to implement what should have been a list with a header (an H2 for the list and then a plain UL), ... they used a DL with DD for the header and then a > nested UL in the DT ... they did this for the site-map , which is on the bottom of every page.

ARIA can be used to help this type of situation, even if the markup in this case is slightly off.

DL tags can be used effectively for formatting purposes without harming accessibility. You can test an example of this in the Change Log section at
http://whatsock.com/training/#hd37

Where all of the change log notes start with the date within a DT element, and the explanation is within a DD. Each of the DT elements include role="heading" + aria-level="3" to change the role of the element in the Accessibility Tree to a heading with a level of 3.

If there is a need to remove the 'definition' feedback for screen reader users, you can add role="presentation to the DL element tag, and this will nullify the construct in the Accessibility Tree so that it acts more like a Div, in order to rely more on the embedded structures.


-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of John Hicks
Sent: Friday, April 24, 2015 9:22 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Quick Response Needed - DL or UL?

Hello all

I am wondering in what circumstances a "heading structure" would be an
appropriate replacement for a list (especially a definition list). I have
the opposite problem at the moment with a client who used a DL to implement what should have been a list with a header (an H2 for the list and then a plain UL), ... they used a DL with DD for the header and then a nested UL in the DT ... they did this for the site-map , which is on the bottom of every page.

This all made me think of a list with two items, you might have seen before:

<ol>
<li>face</li>
<li>palm</li>
</ol>

John


2015-04-23 23:50 GMT+02:00 < <EMAIL REMOVED> >:

> - beth.mejsullivan@
>
> 23.04.2015, 22:11, "MEJ - Beth Sullivan" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >:
> > Hello,
> >
> > I have a situation where the data warrants a DL, but I have heard
> > DL, DD, DT's aren't the happiest for screen reader? What are your
> > thoughts? ULs better?
>
> Seems (asking an expert sitting next to me - thanks Léonie) that
> screen readers don't do anything useful with the semantics. On the
> other hand, visually they work better, clarifying what is happening.
>
> Assuming you don't want to use a heading structure instead - and it
> may well be overkill for your situation, effectively needing extra
> styling work, etc. - it would still make sense to use a DL - there
> doesn't seem to be a harmful impact.
>
> But filing a bug against screen readers also seems useful.
>
> cheers
>
> --
> Charles McCathie Nevile - web standards - CTO Office, Yandex
> <EMAIL REMOVED> - - - Find more at http://yandex.com
> > > archives at http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
> >