How to style dt and dd so they are on the same line?

Alessandro_Vernet_5295 0
Viewed 233992

Using CSS, how can I style the following:

<dl>
    <dt>Mercury</dt>
    <dd>Mercury (0.4 AU from the Sun) is the closest planet to the Sun and the smallest planet.</dd>
    <dt>Venus</dt>
    <dd>Venus (0.7 AU) is close in size to Earth, (0.815 Earth masses) and like Earth, has a thick silicate mantle around an iron core.</dd>
    <dt>Earth</dt>
    <dd>Earth (1 AU) is the largest and densest of the inner planets, the only one known to have current geological activity.</dd>
</dl>

so the content of the dt show in one column and the content of the dd in another column, with each dt and the corresponding dd on the same line? I.e. producing something that looks like:

table format

css html
21 Answers

You can use CSS Grid:

dl {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: repeat(2, minmax(0, 1fr));
}
<dl>
<dt>Title 1</dt>
<dd>Description 1</dd>
<dt>Title 2</dt>
<dd>Description 2</dd>
<dt>Title 3</dt>
<dd>Description 3</dd>
<dt>Title 4</dt>
<dd>Description 4</dd>
<dt>Title 5</dt>
<dd>Description 5</dd>
</dl>

user_23069880

Depending on how you style the dt and dd elements, you might encounter a problem: making them have the same height. For instance, if you want to but some visible border at the bottom of those elements, you most probably want to display the border at the same height, like in a table.

One solution for this is cheating and make each row a "dl" element. (this is equivalent to using tr in a table) We loose the original interest of definition lists, but on the counterpart this is an easy manner to get pseudo-tables that are quickly and pretty styled.

THE CSS:

dl {
 margin:0;
 padding:0;
 clear:both;
 overflow:hidden;
}
dt {
 margin:0;
 padding:0;
 float:left;
 width:28%;
 list-style-type:bullet;
}
dd {
 margin:0;
 padding:0;
 float:right;
 width:72%;
}

.huitCinqPts dl dt, .huitCinqPts dl dd {font-size:11.3px;}
.bord_inf_gc dl {padding-top:0.23em;padding-bottom:0.5em;border-bottom:1px solid #aaa;}

THE HTML:

<div class="huitCinqPts bord_inf_gc">
  <dl><dt>Term1</dt><dd>Definition1</dd></dl>
  <dl><dt>Term2</dt><dd>Definition2</dd></dl>
</div>
user_5517820

Here is one possible flex-based solution (SCSS):

dl {
  display: flex;
  flex-wrap: wrap;
  width: 100%;
  dt {
    width: 150px;
  }
  dd {
    margin: 0;
    flex: 1 0 calc(100% - 150px);
  }
}

that works for the following HTML (pug)

dl
  dt item 1
  dd desc 1
  dt item 2
  dd desc 2
user_29897180

In my case I just wanted a line break after each dd element.

Eg, I wanted to style this:

<dl class="p">
  <dt>Created</dt> <dd><time>2021-02-03T14:23:43.073Z</time></dd>
  <dt>Updated</dt> <dd><time>2021-02-03T14:44:15.929Z</time></dd>
</p>

like the default style of this:

<p>
  <span>Created</span> <time>2021-02-03T14:23:43.073Z</time><br>
  <span>Updated</span> <time>2021-02-03T14:44:15.929Z</time>
</p>

which just looks like this:

Created 2021-02-03T14:23:43.073Z
Updated 2021-02-03T14:44:15.929Z

To do that I used this CSS:

dl.p > dt {
  display: inline;
}

dl.p > dd {
  display: inline;
  margin: 0;
}

dl.p > dd::after {
  content: "\A";
  white-space: pre;
}

Or you could use this CSS:

dl.p > dt {
  float: left;
  margin-inline-end: 0.26em;
}

dl.p > dd {
  margin: 0;
}

I also added a colon after each dt element with this CSS:

dl.p > dt::after {
  content: ":";
}
user_2429330

I had a very similar issue. I wanted the definition on the same line but only if the terms didn't flow past its start position. In that case I wanted it to be on a new line. After much trial and error I found a solution that's surprisingly simple using floats.

<html>
    <style>
        dl.definitions, dl.definitions dt, dl.definitions dd {
            display: block;
        }
        dl.definitions dt {
            float: left;
            clear: right;
            margin-inline-end: 2ch;
        }
        dl.definitions dd {
            float: right;
            margin-inline-start: unset;
            --definition-indent: 15ch;
            width: calc(100% - var(--definition-indent));
        }
    </style>

    <dl class="definitions">
        <dt> kjsfjk
        <dt> kjsfjk
        <dd>
            Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit,
            sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna
            aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation
            ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
            Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit
            esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur
            sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui
            officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
        <dt> kjsfjks sdf g fg dgf saf asf asf asdg ag
        <dd>
            Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit,
            sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna
            aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation
            ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
            Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit
            esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur
            sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui
            officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
        <dd> Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit,
            sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
        <dd> Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit,
            sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
        <dt> kjsfjks
        <dt> kjsfjks
        <dt> kjsfjks
        <dd>
            Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit,
            sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
        <dd> 
            Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit,
            sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
    </dl>
</html>
user_56559520

Here is my solution. It works like a charm 

dl {
    display: inline-block;

    &::before {
        content: " ";
        display: table;
    }

    &::after {
        clear: both;
    }

    dt {
        margin-right: 5px;
        display: inline-block;
        float: left;
        clear: left;
    }

    dd {
        display: inline-block;
        float: left;
        padding-left: 0;
        margin-left: 0;
    }
}
user_109831420
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