Lists

Unordered HTML Lists

An unordered list starts with the <ul> tag. Each list item starts with the <li> tag.

The list items will be marked with bullets (small black circles):

<ul>
  <li>Coffee</li>
  <li>Tea</li>
  <li>Milk</li>
</ul>

The Style Attribute

A style attribute can be added to an unordered list, to define the style of the marker:

Style Description
list-style-type:disc The list items will be marked with bullets (default)
list-style-type:circle The list items will be marked with circles
list-style-type:square The list items will be marked with squares
list-style-type:none The list items will not be marked 
<ul style="list-style-type:disc">
  <li>Coffee</li>
  <li>Tea</li>
  <li>Milk</li>
</ul>

Ordered HTML Lists

An ordered list starts with the <ol> tag. Each list item starts with the <li> tag.

The list items will be marked with numbers:

<ol>
  <li>Coffee</li>
  <li>Tea</li>
  <li>Milk</li>
</ol>

The Type Attribute

A type attribute can be added to an ordered list, to define the type of the marker:

Type Description
type="1" The list items will be numbered with numbers (default)
type="A" The list items will be numbered with uppercase letters
type="a" The list items will be numbered with lowercase letters
type="I" The list items will be numbered with uppercase roman numbers
type="i" The list items will be numbered with lowercase roman numbers 
<ol type="1">
  <li>Coffee</li>
  <li>Tea</li>
  <li>Milk</li>
</ol>

HTML Description Lists

HTML also supports description lists. A description list is a list of terms, with a description of each term.

The <dl> tag defines the description list, the <dt> tag defines the term (name), and the<dd> tag describes each term: 

<dl>
  <dt>Coffee</dt>
  <dd>- black hot drink</dd>
  <dt>Milk</dt>
  <dd>- white cold drink</dd>
</dl>

Nested HTML Lists

List can be nested (lists inside lists):

<ul>
  <li>Coffee</li>
  <li>Tea
    <ul>
      <li>Black tea</li>
      <li>Green tea</li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>Milk</li>
</ul>

Horizontal Lists

HTML lists can be styled in many different ways with CSS. One popular way, is to style a list to be displayed horizontally:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<head>
<style>
ul#menu li {
    display:inline;
}
</style>
</head>

<body>

<h2>Horizontal List</h2>

<ul id="menu">
  <li>HTML</li>
  <li>CSS</li>
  <li>JavaScript</li>
  <li>PHP</li>
</ul> 

</body>
</html>

With a little extra style, you can make it look like a menu:

ul#menu {
    padding: 0;
}

ul#menu li {
    display: inline;
}

ul#menu li a {
    background-color: black;
    color: white;
    padding: 10px 20px;
    text-decoration: none;
    border-radius: 4px 4px 0 0;
}

ul#menu li a:hover {
    background-color: orange;
}

Summary

  • Use the HTML <ul> element to define an unordered list
  • Use the HTML style attribute to define the bullet style
  • Use the HTML <ol> element to define an ordered list
  • Use the HTML type attribute to define the numbering type
  • Use the HTML <li> element to define a list item
  • Use the HTML <dl> element to define a description list
  • Use the HTML <dt> element to define the description term
  • Use the HTML <dd> element to define the description data
  • Lists can be nested inside lists
  • List items can contain other HTML elements
  • Use the CSS property display:inline to display a list horizontally
Tag Description
<ul> Defines an unordered list
<ol> Defines an ordered list
<li> Defines a list item
<dl> Defines a description list
<dt> Defines the term in a description list
<dd> Defines the description in a description list