dl element (description list) (html)
Screen Reader support level: partial (40/66)
On this page
- About this feature
- Age of results
- Expectations
- Related features
- Related tests
- Related AT or browser issues
- Is something not right?
About this feature
Description list element. See the related dt element and the dd element for more information.
The dl element and its associated dt and dd elements have poor to non-existent support. If it is critically important to convey relationships between terms and descriptions and the values of the two can be confused with each other (think a matching list of colors such as "red: blue", consider another approach such as a table or headings. It is often possible for a user to determine which text is a key and which text is a value just based upon the text alone. If this is the case for your implementation, it might be fine to use a dl element and hope for better support in the future.
Age of results
Results across all tests for this feature range from 3 years ago to 5 years ago. Detailed dates and version information can be found in associated tests.
Caution
Failing or partial results may be out of date. The oldest result is from 5 years ago. Consider running the associated tests and contributing results.
Expectations
Screen Reader support by expectation
| Expectation | JAWS | Narrator | NVDA | Orca | TalkBack | VoiceOver (iOS) | VoiceOver (macOS) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chrome | Edge | Firefox | Edge | Chrome | Edge | Firefox | Firefox | Chrome | Safari | Safari | |
| MUST convey its role | supported | supported | supported | none | partial | partial | partial | none | none | supported | supported |
| MUST convey the number of items in the list | supported | supported | supported | none | supported | supported | supported | none | none | none | supported |
| MUST convey the boundaries of the element | supported | supported | supported | none | supported | supported | supported | none | none | supported | supported |
Expectation: convey its role
Rationale:
A screen reader user needs to know how they can interact with the element. Voice control software might use the role to help users activate controls that do not have a visible name.
Strength of this expectation for different types of assistive technologies:
- Screen Readers: MUST
- Voice Control: NA
Examples:
- A screen reader might convey the role as "description list" when first entering the list.
| Test | JAWS | Narrator | NVDA | Orca | TalkBack | VoiceOver (iOS) | VoiceOver (macOS) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chrome | Edge | Firefox | Edge | Chrome | Edge | Firefox | Firefox | Chrome | Safari | Safari | |
| HTML basic description list test | supported | supported | supported | none | partial | partial | partial | none | none | supported | supported |
| HTML description list with wrapped groups test | supported | supported | supported | none | partial | partial | partial | none | none | supported | supported |
Expectation: convey the number of items in the list
Rationale:
A user needs to be able to understand how many pairs or items are in the list.
Strength of this expectation for different types of assistive technologies:
- Screen Readers: MUST
- Voice Control: NA
Examples:
- A screen reader might convey the position of each item in the list as something like "x of y" where y is the number of items in the list.
- A screen reader might convey each term and description pair as a single item, or as separate items. For example, a screen reader might convey the size of a list of 3 pairs as either 3 or 6.
- A screen reader might convey the number of items in the list when first entering the list.
| Test | JAWS | Narrator | NVDA | Orca | TalkBack | VoiceOver (iOS) | VoiceOver (macOS) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chrome | Edge | Firefox | Edge | Chrome | Edge | Firefox | Firefox | Chrome | Safari | Safari | |
| HTML basic description list test | supported | supported | supported | none | supported | supported | supported | none | none | none | supported |
| HTML description list with wrapped groups test | supported | supported | supported | none | supported | supported | supported | none | none | none | supported |
Expectation: convey the boundaries of the element
Rationale:
A user needs to know when they enter and exit an element
Strength of this expectation for different types of assistive technologies:
- Screen Readers: MUST
- Voice Control: NA
Examples:
- A screen reader might announce the role of the element when entering and say something like "leaving" when exiting.
- A screen reader might not explicitly announce entering and existing the element, but instead imply that the is in the containing object by conveying the roles of required children (options in a listbox for example).
- A screen reader might announce position in set information such as "1 of 6".
- A screen reader might not convey boundaries if the content fits on a single line
| Test | JAWS | Narrator | NVDA | Orca | TalkBack | VoiceOver (iOS) | VoiceOver (macOS) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chrome | Edge | Firefox | Edge | Chrome | Edge | Firefox | Firefox | Chrome | Safari | Safari | |
| HTML basic description list test | supported | supported | supported | none | supported | supported | supported | none | none | supported | supported |
| HTML description list with wrapped groups test | supported | supported | supported | none | supported | supported | supported | none | none | supported | supported |
Related features
These are features that are usually used in combination with this feature.
dt element (html)
| Dragon | JAWS | Narrator | NVDA | Orca | TalkBack | Voice Access | VC iOS | VC MacOS | VoiceOver (iOS) | VoiceOver (macOS) | Speech Recognition | Windows Voice Access | Windows | Mac | iOS | Android Keyboard |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unknown | no known support | no known support | partial (4/13) | no known support | no known support | unknown | unknown | unknown | partial (2/5) | partial (2/5) | unknown | unknown | unknown | unknown | unknown | unknown |
dd element (html)
| Dragon | JAWS | Narrator | NVDA | Orca | TalkBack | Voice Access | VC iOS | VC MacOS | VoiceOver (iOS) | VoiceOver (macOS) | Speech Recognition | Windows Voice Access | Windows | Mac | iOS | Android Keyboard |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unknown | no known support | no known support | no known support | no known support | some partial support | unknown | unknown | unknown | partial (2/5) | partial (2/5) | unknown | unknown | unknown | unknown | unknown | unknown |