<ul>: The Unordered List element

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2015.

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The <ul> HTML element represents an unordered list of items, typically rendered as a bulleted list.

Try it

<ul>
  <li>Milk</li>
  <li>
    Cheese
    <ul>
      <li>Blue cheese</li>
      <li>Feta</li>
    </ul>
  </li>
</ul>

li {
  list-style-type: circle;
}

li li {
  list-style-type: square;
}

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.

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 property line-height can be used with a value of 80%.

type

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 the list-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

Basic 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
# the-ul-element

Browser compatibility

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 deprecated compact attribute.
    • the margin property, to control the list indentation.