Jump to: Ordered List | Unordered List

Lists consist of related text content grouped together.

Ordered List

An ordered list is a grouping of related items that are in a specific order. Each styled ordered list item begins with a number.

Example

Styled
  1. Art
  2. Biology
  3. Computer Science & Engineering
  4. Earth & Planetary Sciences
  5. Environmental Studies

Unstyled
  1. Anheuser-Busch Hall
  2. Brown Hall
  3. Danforth University Center
  4. Hillman Hall
  5. Knight Hall

Best Practices

  • An ordered list is used when there is an order or priority that needs to be displayed within a group of items.
  • Use an unstyled ordered list to remove the list’s numbers but keep the spacing and margins of a list. A screen reader will still read the order of a list, even if it is unstyled.

HTML

<ol>
  <li>Art</li>
  <li>Biology</li>
  <li>Computer Science & Engineering</li>
  <li>Earth & Planetary Sciences</li>
  <li>Environmental Studies</li>
</ol>

CSS

ol {
  list-style: decimal;
  margin: 0 0 1em 0;
  padding-left: 1.5em;
  font-size: 1.2rem;
}

ol.unstyled {
  list-style: none;
}

ol.unstyled ol {
  list-style: none;
}

Unordered List

An unordered list is a grouping of related items that aren’t in a specific order. Each styled unordered list item begins with a bullet.

Example

Styled
  • Arts & Sciences
  • Brown School
  • Olin Business School
  • Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts
  • School of Medicine
Unstyled
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Entrepreneurship
  • Campus & Community
  • Humanities & Society
  • Medicine & Health

Best Practices

  • An unordered list is used when all list items are equal in importance.
  • Use an unstyled unordered list to remove the list’s bullets but keep the spacing and margins of a list.

HTML

<ul>
  <li>Arts & Sciences</li>
  <li>Brown School</li>
  <li>Olin Business School</li>
  <li>Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts</li>
  <li>School of Medicine</li>
</ul>

CSS

ul {
  list-style: disc;
  margin: 0 0 1em 0;
  padding-left: 1.5em;
  font-size: 1.2rem;
}

ul.unstyled {
  list-style: none;
}

ul.unstyled ul {
  list-style: none;
}

Design Considerations

Lists use the paragraph font style.

Unstyled lists are indented to have the same margins of a list to indicate that it is a different content type from other text on a page.