Appropriate list type

[Fallen Angel]

My current project has a page that's got a list of memorials in a simple name and date of birth and death of the deceased/short message format. Now given that the W3C haven't seen fit to give us a memorial/obituary list type  , I'm wondering what the best list format to be semantically correct would be.

I'm thinking that a standard definition list, using the <dt> for the name/dates, and <dd> for the message may be the one to go with. Any thoughts?

[Anti]

Definition list is the first thing that came to my mind. I am sure that is what I would use in your situation.

[Fallen Angel]

  Thanks Anti - I'm thinking that's the way to go.

[PrawnDog]

I read someone talking about Definition lists somewhere. Someone was trying to something similar, using a definition list, but couldn't get the specific CSS right. The question asked was "Is this a Definition Term and Description?". If it was, DD was considered semantically correct; otherwise, it's just a list, and should be styled as a list.

Maybe a list with relevant <div>s or <span>s would be more semantically correct.

[Fallen Angel]

I went for the definition list in the end. As someone elsewhere advised "All the information is related to the name and so I reckon it's the name that's the definition term and the other info is all detail".

[Anti]

I liked the definition list because it would use the least markup. The short message could be said to define the person in a certain limited context, but a better case can be made for using tags efficiently.

[PrawnDog]

I'm not sure which is better, symantically accurate markup or least markup. Broadband means that a little extra markup is not too bad a problem these days. Maybe a better way would be to "roll your own" XML, but that leads to all sorts of non-HTML fun....

[Anti]

I agree it is not perfect, but the reason I try to keep the tags down somewhat is for maintenance. It seems easier for me to style <dt class="person"> than to have an extra div in there and have to think about which changes what. I think the important thing is that we are thinking about it, whichever method we use, and making our markup easier to read.