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HTML: <dd> tag

This HTML tutorial explains how to use the HTML element called the <dd> tag with syntax and examples.

Description

The HTML <dd> tag is used to provide a description or definition for the term found in the preceding <dt> tag within a description list (<dl> tag) in the HTML document. The <dd> tag is also commonly referred to as the <dd> element.

Syntax

In HTML, the syntax for the <dd> tag is:

<dl>
  <dt>Term1</dt>
  <dd>Description of Term1<dd>

  <dt>Term2</dt>
  <dd>Description of Term2<dd>
</dl>

Sample Output

Attributes

Only the Global Attributes apply to the <dd> tag. There are no attributes that are specific to the <dd> tag.

Note

  • The <dd> element is found within the <body> tag and must be inside of a description list <dl> tag.

  • For each group (ie: term/description pair) in the description list, there must be at least one <dt> tag followed by at least one <dd> tag. This means that it is possible to list:

    • a single term followed by a single description
    • a single term followed by multiple descriptions
    • multiple terms followed by a single description
    • multiple terms followed by multiple descriptions

Browser Compatibility

The <dd> tag has basic support with the following browsers:

  • Chrome
  • Android
  • Firefox (Gecko)
  • Firefox Mobile (Gecko)
  • Internet Explorer (IE)
  • Edge Mobile
  • Opera
  • Opera Mobile
  • Safari (WebKit)
  • Safari Mobile

Example

We will discuss the <dd> tag below, exploring examples of how to use the <dd> tag in HTML5, HTML 4.01 Transitional, XHTML 1.0 Transitional, XHTML 1.0 Strict, and XHTML 1.1.

  • HTML5
  • HTML4
  • XHTML

HTML5 Document

If you created a new web page in HTML5, your <dd> tag might look like this:

<!doctype html>
<html>

<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>HTML5 Example by www.techonthenet.com</title>
</head>

<body>
<dl>
   <dt>TechOnTheNet Excel</dt>
   <dd>Tutorials on Microsoft Excel</dd>
   
   <dt>TechOnTheNet Word</dt>
   <dd>Tutorials on Microsoft Word</dd>
</dl>
</body>

</html>

In this HTML5 Document example, we have created a description list with 2 terms (TechOnTheNet Excel and TechOnTheNet Word) and their corresponding descriptions are found in the <dd> tag.

HTML 4.01 Transitional Document

If you created a new web page in HTML 4.01 Transitional, your <dd> tag might look like this:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>

<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<title>HTML 4.01 Transitional Example by www.techonthenet.com</title>
</head>

<body>
<dl>
   <dt>TechOnTheNet SQL</dt>
   <dd>Tutorials on SQL (Structured Query Language)</dd>

   <dt>TechOnTheNet Oracle</dt>
   <dd>Tutorials on Oracle Databases</dd>
</dl>
</body>

</html>

In this HTML 4.01 Transitional Document example, we have created a description list with 2 terms (TechOnTheNet SQL and TechOnTheNet Oracle) and their corresponding descriptions are found in the <dd> tag.

XHTML 1.0 Transitional Document

If you created a new web page in XHTML 1.0 Transitional, your <dd> tag might look like this:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<title>XHMTL 1.0 Transitional Example by www.techonthenet.com</title>
</head>

<body>
<dl>
   <dt>TechOnTheNet HTML</dt>
   <dd>Tutorials on HTML (HyperText Markup Language)</dd>
   
   <dt>TechOnTheNet CSS</dt>
   <dd>Tutorials on CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)</dd>
</dl>
</body>

</html>

In this XHTML 1.0 Transitional Document example, we have created a description list with 2 terms (TechOnTheNet HTML and TechOnTheNet CSS) and their corresponding descriptions are found in the <dd> tag.

XHTML 1.0 Strict Document

If you created a new web page in XHTML 1.0 Strict, your <dd> tag might look like this:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<title>XHTML 1.0 Strict Example by www.techonthenet.com</title>
</head>

<body>
<dl>
   <dt>TechOnTheNet MariaDB</dt>
   <dd>Tutorials on MariaDB Databases</dd>

   <dt>TechOnTheNet PostgreSQL</dt>
   <dd>Tutorials on PostgreSQL Databases</dd>
</dl>
</body>

</html>

In this XHTML 1.0 Strict Document example, we have created a description list with 2 terms (TechOnTheNet MariaDB and TechOnTheNet PostgreSQL) and their corresponding descriptions are found in the <dd> tag.

XHTML 1.1 Document

If you created a new web page in XHTML 1.1, your <dd> tag might look like this:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<title>XHTML 1.1 Example by www.techonthenet.com</title>
</head>

<body>
<dl>
   <dt>TechOnTheNet SQLite</dt>
   <dd>Tutorials on SQLite Databases</dd>

   <dt>TechOnTheNet MySQL</dt>
   <dd>Tutorials on MySQL Databases</dd>
</dl>
</body>

</html>

In this XHTML 1.1 Document example, we have created a description list with 2 terms (TechOnTheNet SQLite and TechOnTheNet MySQL) and their corresponding descriptions are found in the <dd> tag.

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