DD - Definition Description

The DD element provides the definition of a term in a definition list. The closing tag for DD is optional, but its use prevents common browser bugs with style sheets.

DD may contain block-level elements such as P, H2, TABLE, and DL. This allows definition lists to be nested, as in the following example:

<DL>

  <DT><A NAME="spanning-tree">Spanning tree</A></DT>
  <DD>
    <P>
      A spanning tree of a graph is a <A HREF="#tree">tree</A>
      that contains all the vertices of the graph. There are two
      main types of spanning trees:
    </P>

    <DL>
      <DT>BFS spanning tree</DT>
      <DD>
        A spanning tree formed by a breadth-first search on the graph.
      </DD>
      <DT>DFS spanning tree</DT>
      <DD>
        A spanning tree formed by a depth-first search on the graph.
      </DD>
    </DL>
  </DD>

  <DT><A NAME=tree>Tree</A></DT>
  <DD>
    <P>
      A tree is a connected, undirected graph without cycles.
    </P>
  </DD>

</DL>

A DD element should generally be preceded by a DT element that gives the term defined by the DD. A single definition term may have multiple definitions associated with it, and a single definition may have multiple terms.

More Information

• DD in W3C HTML 4.0 Recommendation
• DD in W3C HTML 3.2 Recommendation
• DD in HTML 2.0 Standard
• DD in WDG HTML 3.2 Reference
• DD in Learning HTML 3.2 by Examples

This document was modified from the Web Design Group's original work. The Web Design Group takes no responsibility for any errors introduced.