[whatwg] dl definition issue

[Ian Hickson]

On Tue, 28 Apr 2009, Simon Pieters wrote:
> >
> > I just removed the argument and just pointed to <dialog>.
> 
> If there is no argument as to why <dl> is inappropriate for marking up 
> dialogue, maybe we should drop <dialog> and say that <dl> is appropriate 
> for marking up dialogue.

There is an argument (it's the same argument for why <em> shouldn't be 
used for citations, or why <dfn> shouldn't be used for emphasis). It's 
just not given in the spec, since giving it seemed unnecessary.

I actually gave the argument in the checkin comment. <dl> is about 
name-value groups where there can be multiple names and values per group, 
where order can but does not necessarily matter, and where with few 
exceptions, names shouldn't be duplicated (exceptions being when a term 
has two definitions and each version has different synonyms). A dialog is 
very different in all these respects.

-- 
Ian Hickson               U+1047E                )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
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Things that are impossible just take longer.   `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'