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- What is it?
- The Definition List element represents a list of terms and
corresponding definitions. Typical formatting of a definition list is
flush left for the term (DT) with the definition (DD) indented on a
separate line (block formatted.) An alternate method of display is to have
the DD indented following the DT item on the same line to more strongly
associate the term/definition relationship.
The contents of this list structure is a sequence of DT and DD terms (this
is the only list structure in which the DT and DD tag are allowed to appear,
and they are usually found in pairs.) Multiple DTs may be grouped with a
single DD, but should not contain multiple consecutive DD elements. As with
other list tags, the closing </dt> and
</dd> tags are optional, as they are
implied by the subsequent list items or end
</dl> tags.
Style Sheet Attributes
[More on Cascading Style Sheets]
- Class
- 2 | 3
| 3.2 | IE3B1
| M | N4B2
- Required? No
- Description:
This represents an assigned semantic classification grouping(s) for the
current tag.
- Values:
Given as a comma separated list of alphanumeric characters. Class names
may contain spaces (multiple consecutive spaces treated as a single
space.)
- ID
- 2 | 3
| 3.2 | IE3B1
| M | N4B2
- Required? No
- Description:
This assigns an alpha-numeric identifier that is unique
to this tag instance. Style sheets may use this attribute to reference
the current instance of this tag. Hyperlinks may also use this identifier
to serve as a destination.
- Values:
An alphanumeric string - initial character must be a letter followed
by alphabetic characters, digits, "-" or "."
characters. The allowable set of alpha-characters is restricted to the
A-Z and a-z set.
- Style
- 2 | 3
| 3.2 | IE3B1
| M | N4B3
- Required? No
- Description:
This attribute is a text string that provides rendering style
information for the current tag.
- Values:
Please see the description of
inline styles for more
information on how to use this attribute and its
possible values.
- Example
- <dl>
<dt>Term 1
<dd>Term 1 definition
<dt>Term 2
<dd>Term 2 definition
</dl>
- DT & DD Parent Model
- <dl>
DT Content Model
- %Text% |
%Anchors% |
%Virtual Formatting% |
%Physical Formatting% |
%Line Break Content% |
%Multimedia Content%
- DD Content Model
- %Text% |
%Anchors% |
%Virtual Formatting% |
%Physical Formatting% |
%Line Break Content% |
%Multimedia Content% |
%Block Content% |
<address> |
<basefont> |
<Hx>
Tips & Tricks
- Despite the above caveat to not have multiple consecutive DD elements,
most browsers have no problem with it.
- One of the most common usages for this list structure is solely to achieve
indentation capability with the DD tag [this document is an example.]
- Useless Trivia: There appears to be some
confusion as to what DD stands for
mnemonically, even in the official W3 documentation. I have heard all
of these used: "Definition Definition", "Definition
Discussion" and "Definition Description". It probably
doesn't matter which term is used, as long as both parties can agree
to the subject being discussed.
Browser Peculiarities
Boring Copyright Stuff...