[whatwg] Interpretation issue: can <section> be used for "extended paragraphs"?

[Andy Mabbett]

On 14 June 2011 08:32, Ian Hickson <ian at hixie.ch> wrote:
> On Thu, 10 Mar 2011, Jukka K. Korpela wrote:

>> Under these circumstances, what should we say to people to need to use
>> paragraphs that contain lists, for example?
>
> That paragraphs don't contain lists; when a sentence has
>  * this
>  * structure,
> ...it is in fact two paragraphs and a bullet list.

I think that's an opinion, not a fact.

> Indeed, but "block of text" is pretty much what a paragraph is -- it isn't
> a logical construct.

Cite?

The Oxford English Dictionary would seem to disagree with you:

      A distinct passage or section of a text, usually composed
      of several sentences, dealing with a particular point, a short
      episode in a narrative, a single piece of direct speech, etc.

> It's quite possible, if rare, for a sentence to span
> paragraphs even without lists being involved... Take, for instance, the
> first...
>
> ...no, the second...
>
> ...no, the third, of these blocks of text. That sentence spans three
> paragraphs.

My view is that that's one paragraph, with line breaks.


Consider:

       I like apples, pears, grapes, but not bananas. Nor do I like peaches.

and:

       I like

          * apples
          * pears
          * grapes

      but not bananas. Nor do I like peaches.

The difference between those two is presentational, not semantic. Each
is a single paragraph.

-- 
Andy Mabbett
@pigsonthewing
http://pigsonthewing.org.uk