Which advantages have definition list (<dd><dt> etc..) and when we should use it?

Question

Hi,

Which advantages have definition list (<dd><dt> etc..) and when we should use it? (Example: use in Zend_Form, but i dont understand why)

Does exist other better options?

(I beginner, but its look to me that is xml use inside html. If I right XML not wide used recently because yaml, file.ini, json each of them in their field more efficient in parsing then xml format.)

Thanks

Answer 1

Hi Yosef - this article might be useful to you.

http://www.benmeadowcroft.com/webdev/articles/definition-lists.shtml

Answer 2

In HTML, <dl/> must be used each time you need a list of words with definitions. In practice, definition list is used in the situations where a simple list (unordered <ul/> or ordered <ol/>) is not enough.

For example, you want to display a list of files to download. Each file has an icon, a name, a size and a download button.

1. First, you can put everything in a <table/>. That's what was done ten years before, when CSS was not used as intensively as today, and when the separation between content and presentation was not too clear.

2. Then, you can just put everything in <div/>s: each file in a <div/>, each file name in a <div/>, etc. The problem is that the code will be longer, less easy to understand and more difficult to maintain.

3. Then, you may want to put a <ul/> with plenty of <div/>s inside. This is similar to the (2.)

4. Finally, you can use a definition list. The advantages will be a reduced size of HTML code and a code easier to maintain. By the way, accessibility will be increased: with CSS disabled, your page will still be readable (whereas with embedded <div/>s, the user will have much pain to understand that it is a list of files).