[whatwg] Definition list and tables: what's the difference ?

[David Latapie]

On Tue, 13 Feb 2007 15:52:23 +0100, Alexey Feldgendler wrote:
> On Tue, 13 Feb 2007 15:40:13 +0100, David Latapie <david at empyree.org> wrote:
> 
>> My humble point: <table> can do everything <dl> can, whilst the reverse
>> is not true. He who can do more can do less.
> 
> <table> canot do this:
> 
> <dl>
> <dt>computer</dt>
> <dd>An electronic device for information processing.</dd>
> <dt>driver</dt>
> <dd>A computer program taking care of direct communication with a 
> peripherial 
> device.</dd>
> <dd>A person who drives a vehicle.</dd>
> </dl>
> 
> How would you represent this in a <table> without abusing the very idea of 
> columns?

<table>
<caption>Mini-glossary of computing</caption>
<thead>
<tr>
	<th>Definition</th>
	<th colspan="2">Term</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
	<th><dfn>Computer</dfn></th>
	<td>An electronic device for information processing.</td>
	<td />
</tr>
<tr>
	<th><dfn>Driver</dfn></th>
	<td>A computer program taking care of direct communication with a 
peripherial 
device.</td>
	<td>A person who drives a vehicle.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

<table>
<caption>Mini-glossary of computing</caption>
<thead>
<tr>
	<th>Definition</th>
	<th colspan="2">Term</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
	<th><dfn>Computer</dfn></th>
	<td colspan="2">An electronic device for information processing.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
	<th><dfn>Driver</dfn></th>
	<td>A computer program taking care of direct communication with a 
peripherial 
device.</td>
	<td>A person who drives a vehicle.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

Now, is it abusing of columns, I really don't know. If a column is a 
presentation definition, maybe. If it just a container for a key or a 
value, I don't think so. After all, CSS encompasses everything in 
boxes, including characters.
-- 
</david_latapie>             U+0F00
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