Someone *had* to mention the S word didn't they.....
OK lets say I have an object called a member. This object has certain
properties (name, age, shoe size, etc..) and each of these properties has a
value.
I can either:
<dl>
<dt>Age</dt>
<dd>30</dd>
<dt>Shoe Size</dt>
<dd>12</dd>
</dl>
Or I could go for
<table>
<tr>
<th>Age</th>
<td>30</td>
<tr>
<tr>
<th>Shoe Size</th>
<td>12</td>
<tr>
</table>
Which is better? I've heard good argument for both and I really don't think
either one is Wrong. Personally I prefer the former because there is less
typing involved... whoops did I just say that? I meant because it conveys
more meaning.
On the positive side <dl/dt/dd> is a great option when you have clearly
defined attributes/value pairs. On the negative side the concept of a row
(represented by <tr>) is pretty meaningless here.
On the other hand if I also have a log of actions that this member has
taken, then I truely have a collection of rows (records) and columns (data
fields which probably grouped by type) which is best described by a table.
I'm tieing myself up in knots trying to explain this, but my gut feel is
that dl/dd/dt is cool for name/value pairs of *any* sort, even if you are
not defining a term.
Cheers
Mark
______________
Mark Stanton
Technical Director
Gruden Pty Ltd
Tel: 9956 6388
Mob: 0410 458 201
Fax: 9956 8433
http://www.gruden.com
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