The original idea of the dir element was to allow browsers to generate multicolumn lists of items. Virtually every browser, however, treats the dir element the same as a ul element, to present an unordered single column list of items (usually preceded by a bullet). The dir element is deprecated in HTML 4 and does not validate against strict HTML 4 or XHTML DTDs. You should be using the ul element, in any case, because you are assured backward compatibility and forward compatibility should this element ever disappear from the browser landscape entirely. Everything said here also applies to the deprecated menu element.

A Boolean attribute originally designed to let browsers render the list in a more compact style than normal (smaller line spacing between items). In practice, mainstream browsers do not adjust their rendering in response to this attribute.

The language being used for the element's attribute values and content. A browser can use this information to assist in proper rendering of content with respect to details such as treatment of ligatures (when supported by a particular font or required by a written language), quotation marks, and hyphenation. Other applications and search engines might use this information to aid the selection of spell-checking dictionaries and the creation of indices.