Well... I agree, that the proposed markup-structure would be
semantically most correct:
<ol>
<li>Item 1
<ul>
<li>Add</li>
<li>Edit</li>
<li>Delete</li>
</ul>
<ol>
<li>Item 1.1
<ul>
<li>Add</li>
<li>Edit</li>
<li>Delete</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>
</li>
</ol>
But can you imagine working with that sort of list in a browser
where stylesheets aren't available? For example in Lynx it would
look something like the following:
1. Fruits
+ Add
+ Edit
+ Delete
1. Apple
o Add
o Edit
o Delete
2. Orange
o Add
o Edit
o Delete
3. Lemon
o Add
o Edit
o Delete
2. Vegetables
+ Add
+ Edit
+ Delete
1. Carrot
o Add
o Edit
o Delete
If this web page is meant to be used mainly for adding, editing
and deleting, then it's one quite uncomfortable user experience
at least. (There are 6 items in the list above - imagine 60!!!)
Whats so wrong with using good-old table... (skipped summary attribute
and possibly more, that should be added):
<table>
<tr><th>Fruits</th> <td>Add</td> <td>Edit</td> <td>Delete</td></tr>
<tr><th>Apple</th> <td>Add</td> <td>Edit</td> <td>Delete</td></tr>
<tr><th>Orange</th> <td>Add</td> <td>Edit</td> <td>Delete</td></tr>
<tr><th>Lemon</th> <td>Add</td> <td>Edit</td> <td>Delete</td></tr>
<tr><th>Vegetables</th> <td>Add</td> <td>Edit</td> <td>Delete</td></tr>
<tr><th>Carrot</th> <td>Add</td> <td>Edit</td> <td>Delete</td></tr>
</table>
Well you need to maintain the hierarchy... so... what if you just add
some extra hierarchical information:
<tr><th>Fruits</th>...
<tr><th><span>Fruits > </span>Apple</th>...
<tr><th><span>Fruits > </span>Orange</th>...
<tr><th><span>Fruits > </span>Lemon</th>...
The result in Lynx would:
Fruits Add Edit Delete
Fruits > Apple Add Edit Delete
Fruits > Orange Add Edit Delete
Fruits > Lemon Add Edit Delete
Vegetables Add Edit Delete
Vegetables > Carrot Add Edit Delete
Well.. at least what I think.
Rene Saarsoo
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