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HTML <ul> Tag

The HTML <ul> tag is used for specifying an unordered list, which groups a collection of items having no numerical order.

The HTML <ul> tag is used for specifying an unordered list, which groups a collection of items having no numerical order. When changing the order of list items, the meaning does not change. Usually, the items of an unordered list are displayed with a bullet. It can be of different forms such as a circle, a dot, or a square.

Each element of an unordered list is declared inside the <li> tag.

The <ul> tag is a block-level element, and occupies all available horizontal space. Its height depends on the content within the container. An unordered list is typically rendered as a bulleted list.

The <ol> tag also represents a list of items and creates an ordered list. But it differs from <ul>, as the order in the <ol> tag is meaningful. By default, the items of an ordered list are displayed with numbers.

The <ul> and <ol> tags can be nested as deeply as you want. The nested lists can alternate between <ul> and <ol>. However, you should consider that in case of nesting a list inside another, the inner list must be placed inside an <li> element of the outer list. This means that the direct child of a list must be an <li> element, but that <li> element can contain another list. It is possible to change the list item marker with CSS. However, the semantic meaning expressed by the choice of a list type cannot be changed with CSS.

Syntax

The <ul> tag comes in pairs. The content is written between the opening (<ul>) and closing (</ul>) tags.

Example of the HTML <ul> tag:

Example of HTML <ul> Tag

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <ul>
      <li>List item</li>
      <li>List item</li>
      <li>List item</li>
    </ul>
  </body>
</html>
Try it Yourself »

Result

ul tag example 1

You can use the type attribute to change the default bullet style for the list items. Note: The type attribute is deprecated in HTML5. For modern web development, it is recommended to use CSS list-style-type instead.

Example of the HTML <ul> tag with the type attribute:

Example of HTML <ul> tag with type attribute

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <ul type="circle">
      <li>List item </li>
      <li>List item</li>
      <li>List item</li>
    </ul>
    <ul type="square">
      <li>List item</li>
      <li>List item</li>
      <li>List item</li>
    </ul>
  </body>
</html>
Try it Yourself »

You can also use CSS list-style-type or list-style-image property to define the type of a list item element.

Example of the HTML <ul> tag used with the CSS list-style-type property:

Example of HTML <ul> Tag with the CSS list-style-type property

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h2>Examples of unordered lists:</h2>
    <ul style="list-style-type: square">
      <li>Cold Drinks</li>
      <li>Hot Drinks</li>
      <li>Ice-Creams</li>
    </ul>
    <ul style="list-style-type: disc">
      <li>Coca-Cola</li>
      <li>Fanta</li>
      <li>Ice Tea</li>
    </ul>
    <ul style="list-style-type: circle">
      <li>Coca-Cola</li>
      <li>Fanta</li>
      <li>Ice Tea</li>
    </ul>
  </body>
</html>
Try it Yourself »

Attributes

AttributeValueDescription
compactcompactSpecifies that the list should be rendered in a compact style. Not supported in HTML 5.
typedisc square circleSets the type of marker. Not supported in HTML 5.

The <ul> tag also supports the Global attributes and the Event Attributes.

How to style an HTML <ul> tag

{
    "tag_name": "ul"
}

Practice

Practice

Which of the following statements about the HTML <ul> tag are true according to the article https://www.w3docs.com/learn-html/html-ul-tag.html?