<ul>: The Unordered List element

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

The source for this interactive example is stored in a GitHub repository. If you'd like to contribute to the interactive examples project, please clone https://github.com/mdn/interactive-examples and send us a pull request.

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. 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>.

Examples

Simple example

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

The above HTML will output:

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

The above HTML will output:

Ordered list inside unordered list

<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>

The above HTML will output:

Specifications

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