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

[Markus Ernst]

Am 10.03.2011 19:18 schrieb Jukka K. Korpela:
> Markus Ernst wrote:
>
>> Would it cause serious issues to add the Phrasing Content category to
>> these three elements [ol, ul, dl] thus allowing them inside the p
>> element?
>
> I'm afraid it would, and I think that's the reason why the content model
> hasn't been extended in HTML5.
>
[...]
>
> Introducing a new paragraph concept, say <par> element, would not have
> this problem, but it would have problems of its own. And the good old
> <p> element might feel rather lonely and rejected - and oddly named.

I know it is late in the HTML5 process to propose new elements, but 
please consider this:

Instead of a new paragraph concept, there could also be a new concept 
for inline (resp. Phrasing Content) lists. The concept is actually not 
too new - for quotes, e.g., we've had both block level <blockquote> and 
an inline level <q> elements for long. Why not the same for lists? 
Consider this markup of Andy's use case:

<p>I always like to eat these cheeses:
<il>
  <ili>Cheddar</ili>,
  <ili>Stilton</ili>, and
  <ili>Red Lester</ili>,
</il>
but I enjoy them most with one of these biscuits:
<il>
  <ili>wheat crackers</ili>,
  <ili>rye crackers</ili>,
  <ili>digestives</ili>,
</il>
and some chutney.</p>

<il> stands for "inline list", <ili> for "inline list item" (it's a pity 
we can't reuse <li> for BC reasons). Conforming UAs would be required to 
ignore any content in an <il> element, except it is in an <ili> element. 
Like that, the above example would be perfectly readable in legacy UAs, 
but make sense in HTML5-capable UAs.

It would even be easy to stlye the output for legacy UAs supporting 
display:list-item, as this example illustrates:
http://www.markusernst.ch/stuff_for_the_world/list-test.html

I tested this example in FF 3.6, IE 8, Opera 11 and Chrome 9. The 
unstyled block degrades nicely in all 4 browsers, the styled one is 
rendered as expected except in IE 8, where it also degrades nicely.

I'd be happy to read any thoughts on this.