Warning:
This wiki has been archived and is now read-only.
DefinitionGrouping
From HTML WG Wiki
Grouping in Definition Lists
State: NEW ISSUE
Definition lists (`dl` elements) do not allow the associations between terms and definitions to be explicitly indicated in markup and the DOM.
Possible uses:
- Styling of definition groups using CSS.
- Making the existing grouping easier to interpret.
- Allowing a term to be placed after its definition.
- Applying a class to a whole group in order to add a microformat.
- Allowing terms without definitions and vice-versa.
Proposals
- Add a `di` ("definition item") element.
- Spec changes:
- Add new element.
- Allow `di` to have only `dt`/`dd` children.
- Allow `di` elements as children of `dl` (either between `dt`/`dd` groups, or instead of them).
- Define that all `dd` children of a `di` element are the definitions for the `dt` children.
- Spec changes:
- Pro: allows out-of-order/missing `dd`/`dt`.
- Pro: allows styling, classing.
- Con: makes parsing more complicated.
- Con: doesn't allow marking up of multiple groups.
- Matches XHTML 2.
- Allow nested `dl` elements.
- Spec changes:
- Allow `dl` elements as children of `dl` (either between `dt`/`dd` groups, or instead of them).
- Spec changes:
- Pro: allows styling, classing.
- Pro: allows multiple related `dt`/`dd` groups to be marked up.
- Con: doesn't allow out-of-order/missing `dd`/`dt`.
- Con: inconsistent with rules for `ol`/`ul`.
- Add `for` attribute to `dd`.
- Spec changes:
- Allow `for` attribute on `dd` element.
- Define that the for attribute on `dd` elements must be the `id` of a `dt` element.
- Define how this interacts with the implicit model.
- Spec changes:
- Pro: allows association of any `dd` with any `dt`.
- Con: allows association of any `dd` with any `dt`.
- Con: complicates parsing.
- Con: doesn't help with styling issue.
- No spec changes.
- Suggest new pseudo-element selectors to CSS WG.
Research
- test for parsing/styling of `di`/nested `dl`
- Results go here.
WHATWG Emails
- DI element, Anne van Kesteren
- DI element, Christoph Päper
- Use cases for DI element, Anne van Kesteren
HTML WG Emails
- html 5 and accessibility issue, Aurélien Levy
- Re: html 5 and accessibility issue, Aurélien Levy
- Re: html 5 and accessibility issue, Robert Burns
- Re: html 5 and accessibility issue, Daniel Schattenkirchner
- Re: html 5 and accessibility issue, Aurélien Levy
- DI element, Andrew Ramsden
- Re: DI element, Thomas Broyer
- Re: DI element, Robert Burns
- Re: DI element, Rene Saarsoo
- Re: DI element, Ian Hickson
- Re: DI element, Martin Atkins
- Re: DI element, Andrew Ramsden
- Re: DI element, Ben Boyle
- Re: DI element, Robert Burns
- Re: DI element, Ian Hickson
- Re: DI element, Charles McCathieNevile
- Re: DI element, Henri Sivonen
- Re: DI element, Aurélien Levy
- Definition items as nested DL elements, Thomas Broyer
- Re: Definition items as nested DL elements, Charles McCathieNevile
Other References
- HTML 5 Editor's Draft - The dl element
- hcard-issues, 2006-01-21 raised by Ben Boyle.
- XHTML 2 Working Draft - Definition lists