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Number of posts in this thread: 5 (In chronological order)

From: Angela French
Date: Wed, Jun 14 2017 11:36AM
Subject: Is Definition List the best solution here?
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Hello,
I'd like some opinions/explanations on whether using <dl><dt> and <dd> is the best way to approach something similar to what follows here where we need to display multiple instances of the same terms, but they would have different definitions.

<dl>
<dt>Book Title: </dt><dd>foo</dd>
<dt>Author: </dt><dd>foo</dd>
<dt>ISBN: </dt><dd>foo</dd>
<dt>Year Published: </dt><dd>foo</dd>

<dt>Book Title: </dt><dd>foo</dd>
<dt>Author: </dt><dd>foo</dd>
<dt>ISBN: </dt><dd>foo</dd>
<dt>Year Published: </dt><dd>foo</dd>

Etc.
</dl>

Or would each set be a separate definition list <dl>? Or is there some other better way to handle this?

Thanks




Angela French
Internet/Intranet Specialist
Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
360-704-4316
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = <mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
www.sbctc.edu<;http://www.sbctc.edu/>;

From: Swift, Daniel P.
Date: Wed, Jun 14 2017 11:57AM
Subject: Re: Is Definition List the best solution here?
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I think a table is actually best since it's data about books.

Dan Swift
Senior Web Specialist
Enterprise Services
West Chester University
610.738.0589

From: Jonathan Cohn
Date: Thu, Jun 15 2017 7:49PM
Subject: Re: Is Definition List the best solution here?
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I have certainly come across lists like this. I expect you would actually be maintaining the data in XML or JSOM and then use tools to manipulate into either a table or list as appropriate. If one is attempting to get every X of the books in the list, then a table output would be more efficient. But if one is primarily focused on the data about one book at a time, then it is easier to manage as a set of lists.




Best wishes,

Jonathan Cohn



> On Jun 14, 2017, at 1:57 PM, Swift, Daniel P. < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>
> I think a table is actually best since it's data about books.
>
> Dan Swift
> Senior Web Specialist
> Enterprise Services
> West Chester University
> 610.738.0589
>
>

From: Angela French
Date: Fri, Jun 16 2017 9:15AM
Subject: Re: Is Definition List the best solution here?
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Our actual data isn't books - that was just an example I provided. Would you say then that each book should be a separate <dl>? Otherwise the definitions are changing within the same <dl>

Angela French

From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Sat, Jun 17 2017 7:14AM
Subject: Re: Is Definition List the best solution here?
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I would just go simple and either use a table or an unordered list
(with item and definition in each <li>).
There is no harm in using a <dl> either, but there is very little
benefit, other then semantically.
The assistive technology support for the definition list (I think it
is actually called description list now)it is pretty much exposed to
the user as unordered lists.

Just make sure each book entry starts with a heading (for navigation)
and then use unordered lists for the book info.




On 6/16/17, Angela French < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> Our actual data isn't books - that was just an example I provided. Would
> you say then that each book should be a separate <dl>? Otherwise the
> definitions are changing within the same <dl>
>
> Angela French
>
>