Definition lists

[Michel Fortin]

Le 27 juil. 2005, à 10:33, John Gruber a écrit :


> I think this is the way to go. Tough noogies for anyone who wants to

> skip the blank lines.


Agree. Next version of PHP Markdown Extra will work like this.


> How would this look for dict lists with paragraphs?

>

>     Term A

>     Term B

>

>     :   Here's the first paragraph of the definition of Terms A

>         and B. Blah blah blah.

>

>         Here's the second paragraph.

>

>     Term C

>     Term D

>

>     :   This definition contains a paragraph followed by a blockquote.


I think it look nice. Currently, PHP Markdown Extra only deal with one 
line per term, one term per definition, but there is no reason it 
couldn't support more than one term per definition.

Do we need multiple-line terms? I don't think so.


>     Term 1:

>     :   Definition


I don't like that much. I believe you expect the colon after Term 1 to 
be stripped in the output, but I find this to be unnatural. What if you 
want to write a true colon after Term 1? While this is much better than 
my tilda attempt, surely I would prefer the blank line approach.


> The other reason I've been thinking about using colons both ways is

> that we could maybe get away with single-line dt/dd pairs:

>

>     Term 1:: Definition a

>     Term 2:: Definition b

>     Term 3:

>     Term 4:: Definition c

>     Term 5:: Definition d

>         : Definition e


While I like pretty much the idea of putting the definition the same 
line, I don't find this syntax very attractive. I think these :: are a 
little confusing.

I've just thought of this:

	Term 1 -> Definition a
	Term 2 -> Definition b
	Term 3
	Term 4 -> Definition c
	Term 5 -> Definition d
	->	Definition e

	Term 6
	->  Definition f
	->  Definition g

	Term 7
	Term 8
	->  Definition h

But I'm really not sure if it is better.


Michel Fortin
michel.fortin at michelf.com
http://www.michelf.com/