HTML Description List

HTML element <dl> is used to define a description list with element <dt> defining each term and element <dd> defining its description as shown below.

  • Element <dl> to define a description list
  • Element <dt> to define each term of a list
  • Element <dd> to define a description of each term of a list

By default, each item on the list should be defined with <dl> element followed by <dd> element.

<dl>
    <dt>Term 1</dt>
    <dd>Description of term 1</dd>
    <dt>Term 2</dt>
    <dd>Description of term 2</dd>
    <dt>Term 3</dt>
    <dd>Description of term 3</dd>
</dl>

Example

We can check the outcome of the below HTML document to see how it looks.

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>HTML Description List</h1>
    <dl>
        <dt>Term 1</dt>
        <dd>Description of term 1</dd>
        <dt>Term 2</dt>
        <dd>Description of term 2</dd>
        <dt>Term 3</dt>
        <dd>Description of term 3</dd>
    </dl>
</body>
</html>

Other List Types

Take a look at the article on HTML Lists to know more about other types of HTML lists.

Overall

We can use a description list when we want to group a list of terms and their descriptions together.