Certain HTML elements that may appear in body are said to be “block-level” while others are “text-level”(also known as “inline”, “character level elements” and “text strings”).
Generally, block-level elements may contain text-level elements and other block-level elements. Generally, text-level elements may contain only data and other text-level elements, e.g., a paragraph may have spans.
Significantly, lists are comprised of flow and text-level content models.
[Note: List elements are categorized by HTML 5 as “Grouping Content”.]
HTML Lists
Simple or structured with complexity
HTML has four (4) list types. There are two (2) distinguished differences in structures: Ordered, Unordered, Directory and Menu lists utilize the “List Item” element for display; whereas, Definition lists utilize a definition term element and a definition definition element. Each list type has specified uses in the structure of content and—Therefore—are comprised of flow and inline content models.
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Unordered List
The unordered list (or, UL) element represents simple or complex lists depending on the requirements of the document and/or semantic, i.e., explicit, structure of content. This list type does not have stated significance nor hierarchical order for content. It may have presentational elements displayed on its list items, e.g., squares.
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Ordered List
The ordered list (or, OL) element represents simple or complex structured lists depending on the requirements of the document and/or semantic, i.e., explicit, structure of content. This list type does have stated significance or hierarchical order for content. It may be numbered.
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List Item
The list item (or, LI) element represents an individual item in a list. Ordered, unordered and menu lists use the LI element for content markup which will be rendered and displayed according parsing requirements (as defined by UL, OL or MENU elements). The list item is that mechanism from which simple or complex lists are constructed.
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Directory List
This structural element has been deprecated in HTML 4.01 and obsoleted in HTML 5. The DIR element was designed to be used for creating multicolumn directory lists.
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Directory Element
The directory element was the LI.
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Menu List
The menu list (or, MENU) element has been deprecated in HTML 4.01 but reinstated in HTML 5 which states that
the MENU element is redefined to be useful for toolbars and context menus. It represents a list of commands.
This element was reinstated as an interactive menu. -
Menu Element
The menu element is the LI.
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Definition List
The definition list (or, DL) represents a simple or complex structured pseudo-list. This element has been classified as a list and, whereas its content may—Occasionally—contain numerous list items, it has a formal structure: one (1) definition term with one (1) or more definitions.
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Definition Term
The definition term (or, DT) represents the term to be defined or it may represent the title of content to be defined. The DT is the first element used in a definition list followed by one (1) or more definition data elements.
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Definition Description
The definition description (or, DD) element represents the actual definition of the term or title. The DD is the second element used in a definition list preceded by one (1) definition term element.