<ul>: The Unordered List element
The <ul>
HTML element represents an unordered list of items, typically rendered as a bulleted list.
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Attributes
This element includes the global attributes.
compact
Deprecated Non-standard-
This Boolean attribute hints that the list should be rendered in a compact style. The interpretation of this attribute depends on the user agent, and it doesn't work in all browsers.
Warning: Do not use this attribute, as it has been deprecated: use CSS instead. To give a similar effect as the
compact
attribute, the CSS propertyline-height
can be used with a value of80%
. type
Deprecated Non-standard-
This attribute sets the bullet style for the list. The values defined under HTML3.2 and the transitional version of HTML 4.0/4.01 are:
circle
disc
square
A fourth bullet type has been defined in the WebTV interface, but not all browsers support it:
triangle
.If not present and if no CSS
list-style-type
property applies to the element, the user agent selects a bullet type depending on the nesting level of the list.Warning: Do not use this attribute, as it has been deprecated; use the CSS
list-style-type
property instead.
Usage notes
- The
<ul>
element is for grouping a collection of items that do not have a numerical ordering, and their order in the list is meaningless. Typically, unordered-list items are displayed with a bullet, which can be of several forms, like a dot, a circle, or a square. The bullet style is not defined in the HTML description of the page, but in its associated CSS, using thelist-style-type
property. - The
<ul>
and<ol>
elements may be nested as deeply as desired. Moreover, the nested lists may alternate between<ol>
and<ul>
without restriction. - The
<ol>
and<ul>
elements both represent a list of items. They differ in that, with the<ol>
element, the order is meaningful. To determine which one to use, try changing the order of the list items; if the meaning is changed, the<ol>
element should be used, otherwise you can use<ul>
.
Examples
Simple example
html
<ul>
<li>first item</li>
<li>second item</li>
<li>third item</li>
</ul>
Result
Nesting a list
html
<ul>
<li>first item</li>
<li>
second item
<!-- Look, the closing </li> tag is not placed here! -->
<ul>
<li>second item first subitem</li>
<li>
second item second subitem
<!-- Same for the second nested unordered list! -->
<ul>
<li>second item second subitem first sub-subitem</li>
<li>second item second subitem second sub-subitem</li>
<li>second item second subitem third sub-subitem</li>
</ul>
</li>
<!-- Closing </li> tag for the li that
contains the third unordered list -->
<li>second item third subitem</li>
</ul>
<!-- Here is the closing </li> tag -->
</li>
<li>third item</li>
</ul>
Result
Ordered list inside unordered list
html
<ul>
<li>first item</li>
<li>
second item
<!-- Look, the closing </li> tag is not placed here! -->
<ol>
<li>second item first subitem</li>
<li>second item second subitem</li>
<li>second item third subitem</li>
</ol>
<!-- Here is the closing </li> tag -->
</li>
<li>third item</li>
</ul>
Result
Technical summary
Content categories |
Flow content, and if the <ul> element's children include at least
one <li> element,
palpable content.
|
---|---|
Permitted content |
Zero or more <li> ,
<script> and
<template> elements.
|
Tag omission | None, both the starting and ending tag are mandatory. |
Permitted parents | Any element that accepts flow content. |
Implicit ARIA role | list |
Permitted ARIA roles |
directory , group ,
listbox , menu ,
menubar , none ,
presentation ,
radiogroup , tablist ,
toolbar , tree
|
DOM Interface | HTMLUListElement |
Specifications
Specification |
---|
HTML Standard # the-ul-element |
Browser compatibility
BCD tables only load in the browser
See also
- Other list-related HTML Elements:
<ol>
,<li>
,<menu>
- CSS properties that may be specially useful to style the
<ul>
element:- the
list-style
property, to choose the way the ordinal displays. - CSS counters, to handle complex nested lists.
- the
line-height
property, to simulate the deprecatedcompact
attribute. - the
margin
property, to control the list indentation.
- the