Template:Glossary/doc

Usage
The template (a.k.a.  or ) is used with  to explicitly bracket a glossary or glossary-like description list (also called a definition list or association list), especially in a template-structured glossary, although such lists can be used more generally. This is required (as a technical matter) for template-structured glossaries, and is good practice anywhere description/definition lists are used for glossaries. The template pair invoke the  description list HTML element. Unfortunately, the "" mnemonic is not available as a redirect as of this writing.

The pair of templates incidentally prevent Wikipedia's MediaWiki software engine from auto-creating redundant definition list code () around terms and definitions if they have blank lines between them, as they often do, especially in non-structured glossaries.

Typical usage:

Parameters

 * id  can be used to assign a one-word ID name to the glossary. This can be used as a   link target, and could have other metadata uses.
 * style  will pass CSS styling on to the  element. I.e., this styles the definition list itself, as a container, not the individual terms and definitions with it.  There is rarely any reason to do this.
 * class  will pass one or more space-separate CSS classes on to  element, in addition to the automatically included class  .  There is rarely any reason to do this.

Examples
This shows both a very simple then a rather complex instance in a structured glossary (including an entry with a block quotation, using the glossary block quotation template, gbq):

Scope
This family of templates, like the underlying definition list code, is intended for definitional uses, but can have other applications. The HTML 4.01 Specification itself says: "Definition lists...generally consist of a series of term/definition pairs (although definition lists may have other applications). Thus, when advertising a product, one might use a definition list:

Lower cost: The new version of this product costs significantly less than the previous one! Easier to use: We've changed the product so that it's much easier to use! Safe for kids: You can leave your kids alone in a room with this product and they won't get hurt (not a guarantee)."

Thus, editors should feel free to use definition list markup as an alternative to bulleted or numbered lists when the material is well-suited to definition list presentation.