What is the necessity of using ` ` in HTML definition lists?

I have often used the code below to create a table without using HTML table tags. Perhaps I should consider switching to using the table tag, but that's not the issue at hand.

If the <dd> tag is empty, the next <dt> tag will not float left and will be on its own line. However, adding &nbsp; to the <dd> tag makes it behave differently.

Why is &nbsp; necessary, and how can the CSS be modified so that it is no longer needed?

http://jsfiddle.net/bx7sLcx0/

dl.table dt, dl.table dd {
    overflow: hidden;
    padding-top: 3px;
    padding-bottom: 2px;
}
dl.table dt {
    float: left;
    width: 200px;
}

<dl class="table">
    <dt>Title</dt><dd>bla</dd>
    <dt>Title</dt><dd>bla</dd>
    <dt>Title</dt><dd></dd>
    <dt>Title</dt><dd>bla</dd>
    <dt>Title</dt><dd>bla</dd>
    <dt>Title</dt><dd>&nbsp;</dd>
    <dt>Title</dt><dd>bla</dd>
</dl>
htmlcss

Answer №1

In the case of the dd element, similar to other block elements, they will collapse if no content is present. However, you have the option to assign them a specific height or min-height, apply a border, or insert content using the ::before or ::after pseudo-elements. Even though they may appear to be hidden, in reality they just default to a zero height when empty.

dl.table dt, 
dl.table dd {
    overflow: hidden;
    padding-top:3px;
    padding-bottom:2px;
}
dl.table dt {
    float:left;
    width: 200px;
}

dl.table dd { border: 1px solid blue; min-height: 1em;}
}
<dl class="table">
    <dt>Title</dt><dd>bla</dd>
    <dt>Title</dt><dd>bla</dd>
    <dt>Title</dt><dd></dd>
    <dt>Title</dt><dd>bla</dd>
    <dt>Title</dt><dd></dd>
    <dt>Title</dt><dd>&nbsp;</dd>
    <dt>Title</dt><dd>bla</dd>
</dl>

Answer №2

No content will be displayed for the empty elements as they have zero size. To address this issue, you can use CSS to set a minimum height:

dt {
    clear: left;
}

dt, 
dd {
    min-height: 1em;
}

Answer №3

The issue arises from floating the dt elements, causing the dd without content to not take up any page space, resulting in the next dt element appearing alongside it. An easy solution is to simply include clear:left in the css for your td element.

dl.table dt {
    clear:left;
    float:left;
    width: 200px;
}

Answer №4

Check out this informative article discussing the topic. Additionally, there is a helpful stackpost here.

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