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

[Markus Ernst]

Am 10.03.2011 17:58 schrieb Andy Mabbett:
> On 10 March 2011 08:20, Jukka K. Korpela<jkorpela at cs.tut.fi>  wrote:
>> what should we say to people to need to use paragraphs
>> that contain lists, for example?
>
> This has concerned me for some time.
>
> Consider a more complex scenario:
>
> <p>I always like to eat these cheeses:</p>
> <ul>
>   <li>Cheddar
>   <li>Stilton
>   <li>Red Lester
> </ul>
> <p>but I enjoy them most with one of these biscuits:</p>
> <ul>
>   <li>wheat crackers
>   <li>rye crackers
>   <li>digestives
> </ul>
> <p>and some chutney.</p>
>
> What I would like to be able to do is:
>
> <p>I always like to eat these cheeses:
> <ul>
>   <li>Cheddar
>   <li>Stilton
>   <li>Red Lester
> </ul>
> but I enjoy them most with one of these biscuits:
> <ul>
>   <li>wheat crackers
>   <li>rye crackers
>   <li>digestives
> </ul>
> and some chutney.</p>

I was annoyed by the exact same issue several times, too. Anyway it 
looks to me that this problem raised by Jukka Korpela applies mainly to 
the three list-type elements ol, ul and dl.

Would it cause serious issues to add the Phrasing Content category to 
these three elements, thus allowing them inside the p element?

In 3.2.5.1.5 I don't find anything on the expected rendering of Phrasing 
Content, so I assume UAs would not have to change the default rendering 
to be conforming. The content model of the li element would have to be 
added something like "only Phrasing Content, if the element is in a 
context where Phrasing Content is expected".

I also don't see serious backwards compatibility breaks, except that the 
lists of Andy's example would be rendered with top and bottom margins in 
legacy UAs.

(I apologize if this is a silly suggestion for any reason - I can see 
things only from the author perspective.)