[thelist] Definition lists

[Sarah Adams]

>> I don't see anything wrong with using a DL for an FAQ. Certainly
> better
>> than using a bunch of DIVs or SPANs.
> 
> Well this a semantic issue, not a presentation one so divs/spans weren't
> part of the consideration for me. The other options I would use instead
> of a dl would be paragraphs for each question and answer;
> header/paragraph; or unordered list. I think the header/paragraph is
> what I'll use in the future. The person who built this site also used
> dl's for navigation which really seems odd. 
> 
> One of the links someone sent yesterday noted that the usage for dl's
> might be changed in HTML 5 anyway so I think I'm going to stick to a
> very strict definition of "definition".

Either way, DIVs, SPANs, Ps, they are all very generic and not really
what you're looking for. The beauty of the DL is that the DT and DD are
related to each other, rather than simply being adjacent to each other.
Think, what happens if your FAQ answer has more than one paragraph?

Here is the entry for DL in the HTML 5 spec:
http://www.w3.org/TR/html5/semantics.html#the-dl-element

Quote:
"The dl element represents an association list consisting of zero or
more name-value groups (a description list). Each group must consist of
one or more names (dt elements) followed by one or more values (dd
elements).

Name-value groups may be terms and definitions, metadata topics and
values, or any other groups of name-value data."

Sounds like they're making DL even *more* appropriate for an FAQ.

-- 
sarah adams
web developer & programmer
http://sarah.designshift.com