HTML definition list - dl, dt, dd tag and elements

Last update on August 19 2022 21:51:13 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

1. HTML definition list represents a term and a relevant description in the form of the list.

2. HTML definition list starts and ends with dl element (i.e. <dl> and </dl>).

3. The terms are enclosed with dt element.

4. The description is enclosed with the dd element.

5. Another usage of dl, dt and dd elements are to create a dialog. Where each dt specifies the name of the speaker, and each dd containing his or her words.

Syntax

 <dl>  
<dt>
<dd>text</dd>
</dt>
.......................................
</dl>

Whether both start and end tags are required

Yes for dl element and start tag required but end tag optional for dt and dd elements.

Can contain

Element	Can contain
dl	One or more DT or DD elements.
dt	Inline elements.
dd	Inline as well as block-level elements.

Can reside within

Element	Can reside within
dl	APPLET, BLOCKQUOTE, BODY, BUTTON, CENTER, DD, DEL, DIV, FIELDSET, FORM, IFRAME, INS, LI, MAP, NOFRAMES, NOSCRIPT, OBJECT, TD, TH.
dt	DL.
dd	DL.

Attributes

Attributes specific to this element

None.

Identifiers

id, class. For dl, dt and dd.

language information and text direction

lang, dir. For dl, dt and dd.

Title

Title. For dl, dt and dd.

Style

Style. For dl, dt and dd.

Events

onclick, ondblclick, onmousedown, onmouseup, onmouseover, onmousemove, onmouseout, onkeypress, onkeydown, onkeyup. For dl, dt and dd.

Supported doctypes

HTML 4.01 Strict, HTML 4.01 Transitional, and HTML 4.01 Frameset.

Example of using HTML definition list

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<title>html definition list example</title>
</head>
<body>
<dl> 
<dt>PHP</dt>
<dd>A server side scripting language.</dd> 
<dt>JavaScript</dt>
<dd>A client side scripting language.</dd> 
</dl>
</body>
</html>

Result

View this example in a separate browser window

HTML definition list example.

Pictorial presentation

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