Description Lists

Represent terms and descriptions or names and values as associated groups.

Course vocabulary

Accessible name
The text assistive technology uses to identify an element or control.
Source order
The sequence in which elements occur in the HTML document.
Tabular data
Information whose row and column relationships help explain each value.

Event details as name/value pairs

Date
18 September
Time
10:00–12:30
Location
Studio 4 and online
Topic
Semantic tables and lists

When not to use one

A description list expresses direct associations. Use ordinary paragraphs for prose, a ul for independent grouped items, an ol for a sequence, and a table when values need both row and column headers.

Important HTML

Each dt names a term and its following dd gives the associated description.

<dl>
  <dt>Accessible name</dt>
  <dd>The text assistive technology uses…</dd>
  <dt>Source order</dt>
  <dd>The sequence in which elements occur…</dd>
</dl>