Re: HTML5 DL Element vs. WCAG 2.0 Success Criteria

While we are talking about the DL, I would like to bring up an existing
issue again. That, DL as a list is currently lacking of list item inside of
it. That causes two issues:

1) paired DT and DD have no way to be grouped so from the perspective of
meaningful HTML codes they aren't really "paired";

2) web developers are forced to use other two more inappropriate list
elements like UL or OL because the lack of list item inside DL causes
inconvenience when it comes to styling, or they have to resort to
javascripting to dynamically add <li role="presentation"></li> into DL
which doesn't work in non-javascript environment.

For the love of god, please let LI also be DL's child. Thanks all.


Sincerely,
Ian


On Mon, Feb 10, 2014 at 2:38 AM, Steve Faulkner <faulkner.steve@gmail.com>wrote:

> found this article/discussion on the same subject from 2012:
>
> DEFINITION LISTS VERSUS TABLES
> http://snook.ca/archives/html_and_css/definition-lists-v-tables
>
> --
>
> Regards
>
> SteveF
> HTML 5.1 <http://www.w3.org/html/wg/drafts/html/master/>
>
>
> On 6 February 2014 16:37, Mike Elledge <melledge@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi Everyone--
>>
>> I have a question about the use of the DL element.
>>
>> HTML5 seems to have broadened the use case for the DL element to include
>> occasions where a list would benefit from a built-in descriptive heading
>> instead of using <hx> or presenting information in a data table. If used in
>> this way, DL provides more flexibility in presenting list items and enables
>> screen readers to announce both the heading and list items together, which
>> (it seems) would improve both usability and accessibility for persons.
>>
>> This is particularly true where, for example, a search returns
>> collections of information containing different categories (for example, a
>> list of the courses a student is taking, each of which contains information
>> about the instructor or instructors, rooms, dates, subject matter, etc.)
>> that could be placed in a table, but is more readable when shown in
>> discrete chunks (course by course, for example). A tempting way around this
>> is to put text within an unordered list, which results in screen readers
>> speaking first the heading then the items, but doing this creates invalid
>> code.
>>
>> In contrast, WCAG 2.0 limits DL to its HTML4 role as a definition (as in
>> a Glossary), which would preclude an expanded use of DL.
>>
>> Will WCAG 2.0 be revised to include the more flexible implementation of
>> DL, or have I misunderstood DL's re-definition in HTML5?
>>
>> Any input about this would be greatly appreciated!
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> Mike Elledge
>>
>
>