> It would seem like that would be more easily (and cleanly) done using tables.
> If you really do want to be able to specify the number of columns, then
> perhaps your application IS a table, not a directory listing. :^)
>
The discussion also ignores another common list usage, segmented item
lists (SIL). This type of list allows for a single item to have multiple
segments that are presented in some sort of alignment and was found to
be common to all of the documentation sets examined by the OSF DTD working
group. This use represents one "tag abuse" condition for the current
defintion list.
Of course, it is a semantic argument as to if a SIL is a table. We found
that authors tend to think of them as lists, not tables, so the DTD would
be more accurate and perhaps less abused by calling them lists. It also
seemed to be easier to explain the markup to a author this way. Internal
to a browser, the SIL structure could be handled as a table.
Regards,
Dave Hollander