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Re: Definition Lists and Accessibility

for

From: _mallory
Date: Aug 16, 2015 7:01AM

Sometimes, if it makes sense with the DL already, developers put
<h*> headings inside the DTs. This should still look "wrong" to
any AT that sees a DL as a UL, but you'll have a (list item with) a
heading-level-whatever, then another list item, then a (list item
with) a heading-level-whatever etc.


On Sun, Aug 16, 2015 at 09:57:21AM +0100, Léonie Watson wrote:
> Not that I can think of - at least not without disturbing those screen readers that do support definition lists properly, or reducing UX for others in different ways.
>
> One option might be to use a <ul> with something like "term = definition" as the content of each <li>. It would be announced as a standard list by screen readers, but that would mean that people using screen readers that do support definition lists would lose that information. The equals sign would provide a visual indication of the relationship between the term and the definition, but there's a chance some screen readers wouldn't announce the equals sign because of variable punctuation settings.
>
> Which leads me back to thinking that using the right markup for the job is probably the best bet in the scheme of things.
>
> Léonie.