<ul>

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 context

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.