[thelist] should we use <p> within lists...

Dunstan Orchard dunstan at 1976design.com
Tue Sep 10 11:48:00 CDT 2002


Hi everyone,

Can I get someone else's thoughts on the use of <p></p> tags within lists
(both normal and definition)...

It's my usual practice not to use paragraph tags when writing lists, but what
happens when list items become extended and you need to seperate sections of
content?

eg. From a list of courses:

<dl>
<dt>Web Design with Molly, Level III—Advanced.</dt>
<dd><p>If you're looking for an intensive, hands-on workshop concentrating on
advanced web techniques, then this is the workshop for you! This two-day hands-
on workshop highlights Advanced HTML 4, Advanced Web Graphics, and Cascading
Style Sheets.</p>
<p>Attendees will learn how to work with complex tables, frames, and forms,
and gain an understanding of how HTML interacts with other programming
languages. As a special bonus, Molly provides power tips and tricks for
building attractive, highly visual Web sites.</p></dd>
</dl>

Someone suggested that if you get to the point where you need to seperate
sections out, then the content would be better coded as a heading and
paragraph.
But I'd still like to come up with a rule for this anyway.

One solution is to not use paragraph tags unless they are called for. This
seems to work fine, but I'm worried that if styling is applied to <p> then
there will be differences between those lists coded without <p> and those
coded with.

The obvious solution to this is to code every list with <p> tags or create
seperate styles for <p> within lists.

What are your thoughts on this matter?
Has anyone else thought this thing through before?

Should we be using <p> tags around all our content (except headings)?
I'm interested in this from a structural point of view...


cheers - dunstan

---------------------------
Dorset, England
http://www.1976design.com/
http://www.orchard.it/
http://www.maccaws.org/



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