The HTML <ul> tag defines an unordered (bulleted) list.
Unordered HTML List
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) by default:
Unordered HTML List - Choose List Item Marker
The CSS list-style-type property is used to define the style of the list item marker. It can have one of the following values:
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
| disc | Sets the list item marker to a bullet (default) |
| circle | Sets the list item marker to a circle |
| square | Sets the list item marker to a square |
| none | The list items will not be marked |
Example - Disc
<ul style="list-style-type:disc;">
<li>Coffee</li>
<li>Tea</li>
<li>Milk</li>
</ul>
Example - Circle
<ul style="list-style-type:circle;">
<li>Coffee</li>
<li>Tea</li>
<li>Milk</li>
</ul>
Example - Square
<ul style="list-style-type:square;">
<li>Coffee</li>
<li>Tea</li>
<li>Milk</li>
</ul>
Example - None
<ul style="list-style-type:none;">
<li>Coffee</li>
<li>Tea</li>
<li>Milk</li>
</ul>
Nested HTML Lists
Lists can be nested (list inside list):
Example
<ul>
<li>Coffee</li>
<li>Tea
<ul>
<li>Black tea</li>
<li>Green tea</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Milk</li>
</ul>
Note: A list item (<li>) can contain a new list, and other HTML elements, like images and links, etc.
Horizontal List with CSS
HTML lists can be styled in many different ways with CSS.
One popular way is to style a list horizontally, to create a navigation menu:
Example
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
ul {
list-style-type: none;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
overflow: hidden;
background-color: #333333;
}
li {
float: left;
}
li a {
display: block;
color: white;
text-align: center;
padding: 16px;
text-decoration: none;
}
li a:hover {
background-color: #111111;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<ul>
<li><a href="#home">Home</a></li>
<li><a href="#news">News</a></li>
<li><a href="#contact">Contact</a></li>
<li><a href="#about">About</a></li>
</ul>
</body>
</html>
Tip: You can learn much more about CSS in our CSS Tutorial.
Chapter Summary
- Use the HTML
<ul>element to define an unordered list - Use the CSS
list-style-typeproperty to define the list item marker - Use the HTML
<li>element to define a list item - Lists can be nested
- List items can contain other HTML elements
- Use the CSS property
float:leftto display a list horizontally
HTML List Tags
| Tag | Description |
|---|---|
| <ul> | Defines an unordered list |
| <ol> | Defines an ordered list |
| <li> | Defines a list item |
| <dl> | Defines a description list |
| <dt> | Defines a term in a description list |
| <dd> | Describes the term in a description list |
For a complete list of all available HTML tags, visit our HTML Tag Reference.