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<dl>

<dl
class=type
compact
dir=ltr|rtr
id=value
lang=language
style=style
title=text
</dl>

Specifies that the following block is a definition list, that is, an automatically formatted list with terms on the left and their definitions indented below. You must enter the end-tag.

The opening list element must be <dl> and you must immediately follow this tag by the first term (<dt>). If the <dt> term does not fit in the <dt> column (one third of the display area), the browser may extend it across the page and move the <dd> section to the next line, or it may be wrapped onto successive lines of the left hand column.

See <dt> (directory term) and <dd> (directory definition) for a description of tags that appear within a directory list.

Attributes

class=type

Indicates the class to which the tag belongs. You can use the class attribute in a style sheet to create different styles that you want apply to a single HTML tag. For example, you might create three different styles for a <dl> tag. See Using the class attribute as a selector for more details.

compact

Specifies that the list should be organised in a compact style. Each entry appears closer together.

dir=ltr|rtr

Specifies the direction of text. This can be left-to-right (ltr) or right-to-left (rtl). For example, English characters are presented left-to-right, Hebrew characters are presented right-to-left.

id=value

Specifies a unique name for the tag. No two tags can have the same id on a single page. The value must begin with a letter followed by any alphanumeric character, a hyphen, an underscore, a colon or a full stop. You use it to reference a unique style for a tag or to manipulate the tag with a script.

lang=language

Specifies which language the <dl> tag uses. You can enter any valid ISO standard language abbreviation, for example, “en” for English, “de” for German and so on. For example, <span lang="es">hola! como esta?</span>.

This attribute helps search engines understand different languages as different languages rather than just misspelled English. It may also help spelling and grammar checkers and allow speech synthesizers to use language-dependent pronunciation rules.

style=style

Specifies style information. See Style sheets for more information.

title=text

For information only. Some browsers display the title when you move the mouse over the tag (like a tool tip).