<dl>

The <dl> tag is used in HTML to define a list of definitions.

It allows you to associate terms with their definitions in a structured manner.

Structure and syntax of the <dl> tag

Basic structure and syntax

Here is the basic syntax of a <dl> tag:

<dl>
  <dt>Term</dt>
  <dd>Definition of the term</dd>
</dl>

We find two other tags:

• <dt> - For data title (title of the data), which allows you to enter the title of the term;
• <dd> - For data description (description of the data), which allows you to enter its description.

Usage example

Here is a typical example of using the <dl> tag:

<dl>
  <dt>HTML</dt>
  <dd>Hypertext Markup Language, the markup language for structuring web pages.</dd>
  <dt>CSS</dt>
  <dd>Cascading Style Sheets, used for styling HTML documents.</dd>
</dl>

In this example, the <dl> tag is used to associate terms (via <dt>) with their definitions (via <dd>).

Attributes

The <dl> tag can accept some classic HTML attributes like class, id, or style, but it does not have specific attributes.

Best practices

It is recommended to use the <dl> tag to group terms with their definitions in contexts such as glossaries or indexes.

Avoid using this tag for ordered or unordered lists of simple items. The <dl> tag is exclusively used for definitions.

Difference with other similar tags

• <ul>: The <ul> tag is used for unordered lists of general items, whereas <dl> is specifically for lists of terms and definitions.
• <ol>: The <ol> tag is used for ordered lists where the order of the items is important, unlike <dl> where the order does not have specific significance.

Browser compatibility

The <dl> tag is supported by all modern browsers.