[whatwg] [html5] DI element

[Anne van Kesteren]

Rob Mientjes wrote:
>> The advantage of DI is that it allows grouping of definitions and 
>> therefore takes away the importance of element order. It also has a
>> semantic advantage to group these elements. From a structural
>> point of view it is very difficult for current DL element
>> constructs to see which (DT, DD) are bound together as a single
>> entry.
> 
> Well, I'm not sure if it's not already clear that, without a 
> definition term, there can be no new definition descriptions. It is
> on the same route as the SECTION element for XHTML 2.0, which allows
> you to group elements, but I doubt it it is of much use.

SECTION is also introduced in HTML 5. (And also in the XHTML 1.0 
namespace therefore.) See section 4 of WA1[1].

Of course you are right about the implied semantics and relationships 
inside the DL element construct, but that does not make it a useful 
construct and I think it makes it less semantic.

You can easily see that by looking at the same document without knowing 
the semantics.

Before:

  <bax/>
  <baz/>

After:

  <bar>
   <bax/>
   <baz/>
  </bar>

And now you tell me if you would have known that <bax/> and <baz/> 
shared a special relationship looking under "Before:" not further than 
"After:".


[1]<http://whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/#sections0>


-- 
  Anne van Kesteren
  <http://annevankesteren.nl/>