This is the expected behavior.
A list ends whenever every item has ended, which means before any line less or equally indented than items at top level. It also ends before two blank lines. In that case, all items are closed.1
When switching between the different kinds of plain lists, i.e. unordered, ordered and description, org-mode
will need the end of each list to be clearly defined.
In your example
- item1 :: item1 description bla bla bla
- item2
- item3
the list begins as a description list and immediately transitions into an unordered list.
To switch between types provide a clear ending to each type of list:
Option 1 - Indent description list under an empty unordered list.
-
- item1 :: item1 description bla bla bla
- item2
- item3
exports to html as
<ul class="org-ul">
<li><dl class="org-dl">
<dt> item1 </dt><dd>item1 description bla bla bla
</dd>
</dl>
</li>
<li>item2
</li>
<li>item3
</li>
</ul>
And will render like this
- item1
item1 description bla bla bla
- item2
- item3
I recommend this option 1
Option 2 - Create 2 lists by adding 2 blank lines after description list.
- item1 :: item1 description bla bla bla
- item2
- item3
will export to html as
<dl class="org-dl">
<dt> item1 </dt><dd>item1 description bla bla bla
</dd>
</dl>
<ul class="org-ul">
<li>item2
</li>
<li>item3
</li>
</ul>
And will render like this
item1
item1 description bla bla bla
This answer was tested using
GNU Emacs 24.4.1 (x86_64-unknown-cygwin)
of 2014-11-14
org-version: 8.2.10
- term :: definition
format for the first item in the list. So org-mode is expecting the same for the rest too. – Kaushal Modi Oct 9 '15 at 10:36::
, then it is by default a term, if there is::
then it isterm::description
. – Xi Xiao Oct 9 '15 at 11:01term ::
? What is that default term? Out of curiosity why do you need such a list with default term fields? – Kaushal Modi Oct 9 '15 at 11:11::
anddescription
after the text. However in the HTML export, if::
anddescription
are not given, the text is interpreted as description ofno terms
– Xi Xiao Oct 9 '15 at 11:34- *term* description
. – Kaushal Modi Oct 9 '15 at 11:39