HTML Lists

The most common HTML lists are ordered and unordered lists:

HTML Lists

An ordered list:

  1. The first list item
  2. The second list item
  3. The third list item

An unordered list:

  • List item
  • List item
  • List item

HTML Unordered Lists

An unordered list starts with the <ul> tag. Each list item starts with the <li> tag.

The list items are marked with bullets (typically small black circles).

<ul>
<li>Coffee</li>
<li>Milk</li>
</ul>

How the HTML code above looks in a browser:

  • Coffee
  • Milk

HTML Ordered Lists

An ordered list starts with the <ol> tag. Each list item starts with the <li> tag.

The list items are marked with numbers.

<ol>
<li>Coffee</li>
<li>Milk</li>
</ol>

How the HTML code above looks in a browser:

  1. Coffee
  2. Milk

HTML Definition Lists

A definition list is a list of items, with a description of each item.

The <dl> tag defines a definition list.

The <dl> tag is used in conjunction with <dt> (defines the item in the list) and <dd> (describes the item in the list):

<dl>
<dt>Coffee</dt>
<dd>- black hot drink</dd>
<dt>Milk</dt>
<dd>- white cold drink</dd>
</dl>

How the HTML code above looks in a browser:

Coffee
- black hot drink
Milk
- white cold drink

Basic Notes - Useful Tips

Tip: Inside a list item you can put text, line breaks, images, links, other lists, etc.

HTML List Tags

Tag Description
<ol> Defines an ordered list
<ul> Defines an unordered list
<li> Defines a list item
<dl> Defines a definition list
<dt> Defines an item in a definition list
<dd> Defines a description of an item in a definition list