Flash cards
Review the key moves
What is the main idea behind CSS Lists?
Lesson checks
Practice each idea before moving on
Short Mimo-style checks built from this lesson's code, terms, and sequence.
Which statement best captures the main point of this lesson?
Complete the missing token from the example code.
ul.a {___-style-type: circle;}Put the learning moves in the order that makes the concept easiest to apply.
CSS Styling Lists
In HTML, there are two main types of lists:
- <ul> - unordered lists (list items are marked with bullets)
- <ol> - ordered lists (list items are marked with numbers or letters)
CSS has the following properties for styling HTML lists:
- list-style-type - Specifies the type of list-item marker
- list-style-image - Specifies an image as the list-item marker
- list-style-position - Specifies the position of the list-item markers
- list-style - A shorthand property for the properties above
CSS Style List-item Markers
The CSS list-style-type property specifies the type of list-item marker in a list.
The following example shows some of the available list-item markers:
Example
ul.a {list-style-type: circle;}
ul.b {list-style-type: disc;}
ul.c {list-style-type: square;}
ol.d {list-style-type: upper-roman;}
ol.e {list-style-type: lower-roman;}
ol.f {list-style-type: lower-alpha;}
ol.g {list-style-type: decimal;}Live preview
Note
Some of the values are for unordered lists, and some for ordered lists.
CSS Replace List-item Marker with an Image
The CSS list-style-image property is used to replace the list-item marker with an image.
Note
Always specify a list-style-type property in addition. This property is used if the image for some reason is unavailable.
Example
ul {
list-style-image: url('sqpurple.gif');
list-style-type: square;
}Live preview
CSS Position the List-item Markers
The CSS list-style-position property specifies the position of the list-item markers (bullet points).
list-style-position: outside; means that the bullet points will be outside the list item. The start of each line of a list item will be aligned vertically. This is default:
- Coffee
- Tea
- Coca-cola
list-style-position: inside; means that the bullet points will be inside the list item. As it is part of the list item, it will be part of the text and push the text at the start:
- Coffee
- Tea
- Coca-cola
Example
ul.a {
list-style-position: outside;
}
ul.b {
list-style-position: inside;
}Live preview
CSS Remove List-Item Markers
The list-style-type:none; property is used to remove the list-item markers.
Note
A list has a default margin and padding. To remove this, add margin:0 and padding:0 to the <ul> or <ol> element:
Example
ul {
list-style-type: none;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}Live preview
CSS list-style Shorthand Property
The list-style property is a shorthand property. It is used to set all the list properties in one declaration.
When using the shorthand property, the order of the property values are:
- list-style-type
- list-style-position
- list-style-image
If one of the property values above is missing, the default value for the missing property will be inserted.
Example
ul {
list-style: square inside url("sqpurple.gif");
}Live preview
CSS Styling List With Colors
We can also style lists with colors, margins and padding, to make them look a little more interesting.
Anything added to the <ol> or <ul> tag, affects the entire list, while properties added to the <li> tag will affect the individual list items:
Example
ol {
background: salmon;
padding: 20px;
}
ol li {
background: mistyrose;
color: darkred;
padding: 10px;
margin-left: 20px;
}
ul {
background: powderblue;
padding: 20px;
}
ul li {
background: mistyrose;
color: darkblue;
margin: 5px;
}Live preview
Expected output
Coffee Tea Coca Cola Coffee Tea Coca Cola
All CSS List Properties
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| list-style | Sets all the properties for a list in one declaration |
| list-style-image | Specifies an image as the list-item marker |
| list-style-position | Specifies the position of the list-item markers (bullet points) |
| list-style-type | Specifies the type of list-item marker |