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The template {{Glossary}} (a.k.a. {{glossary start}} or {{glossary begin}}) is used with {{Glossary end}} 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 <dl>...</dl> description list HTML element. Unfortunately, the "{{dl}}" 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 (<dl>...</dl>) around terms and definitions if they have blank lines between them, as they often do, especially in non-structured glossaries.
Typical usage:
{{Glossary}}
{{Term}}
{{Defn}}
{{Glossary end}}
Parameters
|id= can be used to assign a one-word ID name to the Glossary. This can be used as a #id link target, and could have other metadata uses.|style= will pass CSS styling on to the <dl> 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 <dl> element, in addition to the automatically included class Glossary. 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}}):
==A–M==
{{Glossary}}
{{Term|1=applesnorkel}}
{{Defn|1=Definition of Term 1.}}
{{Term|Term=arglefarst |content=''{{Lang|xx|arglefarst}}''{{Anchor|argle-farst|argle farst}} }}
{{Defn|no=1 |Defn=Beginning of first definition of Term 2
{{Gbq|1=Block quotation in first definition of Term 2.}}
Conclusion of first definition of Term 2.
}}
{{Defn|no=2 |Defn=Second definition of Term 2.}}
{{Glossary end}}
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A–M
- applesnorkel
- Definition of Term 1.
- arglefarst
- 1. {{{content}}}
- 2. {{{content}}}
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Scope
This family of templates, like the underlying definition list code, is primarily 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.
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