Re: [navigation] does <dt> label a <dd> that follows it?

al asked, quote:
> Can we (should we) get the software doing the binding to
> accessibility APIs to treat
> 
> <dl>
> <dt>term1</dt>
> <dd>remark 1.1</dd>
> <dd>remark 1.2</dd>
> ...
> </dl>
>
> as if it were marked
>
> <dl>
> <dt id='list3term1randxyz'>term1</dt>
> <div role='aaa:group' aaa:labelledby='#list3term1randxyz'>
> <dd>remark 1.1</dd>
> <dd>remark 1.2</dd>
> </div>
> ....
> </dl>
unquote

since i'm not an advocate of promiscuously using the DIV element to 
substitute for missing or malformed markup, i believe the answer 
may lie in a proposal to the HTML WG

by definition, DT is the definition term, which is then refined by 
descendent DD entries, so perhaps the easiest and most practical way to 
approach slash reform DL is to use the DT element as a container, much as 
the LI element acts as a container for nested lists; DT, however, would 
act as a grouping mechanism that provides a clear label for the DD 
elements which follow it slash descend from it;


<dl>
<dt id="t1" aaa="role:group">term1
<dd>remark 1.1</dd>
<dd>remard 1.2</dd>
</dt>

<dt id="t2" role="aaa:group">term 2
<dd>remark 2.1</dd>
<dd>remark 2.2</dd>
</dt>

</dl>

which would make the grouping explicit, rather than implicit;

> Should we really be asking authors to repeat the text, here, or should
> we expect client software to treat the <dt> contents as an inheritable
> context label?

i may be the only person to lament the loss of the proposed list label 
element, but perhaps the idea could be revived and refined as follows
(Note: LL equals List Label, a containing element):

<!-- begin example 1 -->

<style type="text/css">
em.bt { font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; }
</style>

<!-- .... -->

<ul>
<ll id="WtP" role="aaa:group"><em class="bt">Winnie the Pooh</em>

<li><a href="winnie_the_pooh.html"><em class="bt">Winnie the Pooh</em> 
(<acronym title="HyperText Markup Language">HTML</acronym> format</a></li>

<li><a href="winnie_the_pooh.pdf"><em>Winnie the Pooh</em> (<acronym 
title="Portable Document Format (Adobe)">PDF</acronym> format)</a></li>

</ll>

<ll id="WaP" role="aaa:group"><em class="bt">War and Peace</em>

<li><a href="war_and_peace.html"><em class="bt">War and Peace</em> 
(<acronym title="HyperText Markup Language">HTML</acronym></a></li>

<li><a href="war_and_peace.pdf"><em class="bt">War and Peace</em> 
(<acronym title="Portable Document Format (Adobe)">PDF</acronym></a></li>
</ll>

</ul>
<!-- end example 1 -->

the advantage of LL (as well as DT) is that it could use the for slash id 
binding mechanism to reuse the contents of the LL; likewise, using a 
for/id binding for DT, and using it as a container, could facillitate the 
reuse of the string of text marked either by LL or DT

<!-- begin example 2 -->
<style type="text/css">
em.bt { font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; }
</style>

<!-- .... -->

<dl>
<dt id="WtP" role="aaa:group"><em class="bt">Winnie the Pooh</em>

<dd><a href="winnie_the_pooh.html"><em class="bt">Winnie the Pooh</em> 
(<acronym title="HyperText Markup Language">HTML</acronym> format)/a></dd>

<dd><a href="winnie_the_pooh.pdf"><em>Winnie the Pooh</em> (<acronym 
title="Portable Document Format (Adobe)">PDF</acronym> format)</a></dd>
</dt>

<dt id="WaP" role="aaa:group"><em class="bt">War and Peace</em>

<dd><a href="war_and_peace.html"><em class="bt">War and Peace</em> 
(<acronym title="HyperText Markup Language">HTML</acronym></a></dd>

<dd><a href="war_and_peace.pdf"><em class="bt">War and Peace</em> 
(<acronym title="Portable Document Format (Adobe)">PDF</acronym></a></dd>
</dt>

</dl>
<!-- end example 2 -->

gregory.
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Received on Thursday, 17 May 2007 23:26:47 UTC