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The HTML <ul> element (or HTML Unordered List Element) represents an unordered list of items, namely 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 squared. The bullet style is not defined in the HTML description of the page, but in its associated CSS, using the list-style-type property.

There is no limitation to the depth and imbrication of lists defined with the <ol> and <ul> elements.

Usage note: The <ol> and <ul> elements both represent a list of items. They differ in that, with the <ol> element, the order is meaningful. As a rule of thumb 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>.

Usage context

Content categories Flow content
Permitted content zero or more <li> elements, eventually mixed with <ol> and <ul> elements.
Tag omission none, both the start tag and the end tag are mandatory
Permitted parent elements any element that accept flowing content
DOM Interface HTMLUListElement

Attributes

This element includes the global attributes.

compact
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.
Usage note: Do not use this attribute, as it has been deprecated: the <ul> element should be styled using CSS. To give a similar effect as the compact attribute, the CSS property line-height can be used with a value of 80%.
type
Used to set 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,
  • and 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 does apply to the element, the user agent decide to use a kind of bullets depending on the nesting level of the list.

Usage note: Do not use this attribute, as it has been deprecated; use the CSS list-style-type property instead.

Examples

Simple example

<ul>
  <li>first item</li>
  <li>second item</li>
  <li>third item</li>
</ul>

Above HTML will output:

  • first item
  • second item
  • third item

Nesting list

<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>
  </li>               <!-- Here is the closing </li> tag -->
  <li>third item</li>
</ul>

Above HTML will output:

  • first item
  • second item
    • second item first subitem
    • second item second subitem
      • second item second subitem first sub-subitem
      • second item second subitem second sub-subitem
      • second item second subitem third sub-subitem
    • second item third subitem
  • third item

Nested <ul> and <ol>

<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>
  </li>                <!-- Here is the closing </li> tag -->
  <li>third item</li>
</ul>

Above HTML will output:

  • first item
  • second item
    1. second item first subitem
    2. second item second subitem
    3. second item third subitem
  • third item

See also

  • Other list-related HTML Elements: <ol>, <li>, <menu> and the obsolete <dir>;
  • CSS properties that may be specially useful to style the <ul> element:
    • the list-style property, useful to choose the way the ordinal is displayed,
    • CSS counters, useful to handle complex nested lists,
    • the line-height property, useful to simulate the deprecated compact attribute,
    • the margin property, useful to control the indent of the list.

Document Tags and Contributors

 Last updated by: teoli,