I've just stumbled across what I regard as a bug in the html export of description list items.
The problem has to do with whether the specification of a description list includes a trailing space or not; i.e., whether "- Item ::" is treated the same way as "- Item :: ". LaTeX export treats these as identical. Html export gets confused about what the description list item is, and winds up generating a "???" for the description. Here's an example. #+begin_src org * Illustration of bug in html export - Has a space after the colons :: so will work in latex and html - No space after the colons ::so won't work in html - Has a terminating space :: - So it works in both html and latex export! - Even though it's difficult to distinguish from the next example. - Lacks a terminating space :: - *Doesn't* work in html export, does in latex. #+end_src The relevant bit of the html export #+begin_src html <div id="outline-container-1" class="outline-2"> <h2 id="sec-1"><span class="section-number-2"></span> Illustration of bug in html export </h2> <div class="outline-text-2" id="text-1"> <dl> <dt>This has a space after the colons</dt><dd>so will work </dd> <dt>???</dt><dd>This doesn't have a space after the colons ::so won't work </dd> <dt>Has a terminating space</dt><dd> <ul> <li>So it works in both html and latex export! </li> <li>Even though it's difficult to distinguish from the next example. </li> </ul> </dd> <dt>???</dt><dd>Lacks a terminating space :: <ul> <li><b>Doesn't</b> work in html export, does in latex. </li> </ul> </dd> </dl> </div> </div> #+end_src The relevant bit of the latex export looks like this: #+begin_src latex \vspace*{1cm} \section{Illustration of bug in html export} \label{sec-1} \begin{description} \item[This has a space after the colons] so will work \item[This doesn't have a space after the colons] so won't work \item[Has a terminating space] \begin{itemize} \item So it works in both html and latex export! \item Even though it's difficult to distinguish from the next example. \end{itemize} \item[Lacks a terminating space] \begin{itemize} \item \textbf{Doesn't} work in html export, does in latex. \end{itemize} \end{description} #+end_src Thanks for any help! -Ethan Ligon