HTML Ordered Lists

The HTML <ol> tag defines an ordered list. An ordered list can be numerical or alphabetical.

Ordered HTML List

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

The list items will be marked with numbers by default:

Example

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

Ordered HTML List – The Type Attribute

The type attribute of the <ol> tag, defines the type of the list item marker:

Numbers:

<ol type="1">
  <li>Coffee</li>
  <li>Tea</li>
  <li>Milk</li>
</ol>

Uppercase Letters:

<ol type="A">
  <li>Coffee</li>
  <li>Tea</li>
  <li>Milk</li>
</ol>

Lowercase Letters:

<ol type="a">
  <li>Coffee</li>
  <li>Tea</li>
  <li>Milk</li>
</ol>

Uppercase Roman Numbers:

<ol type="I">
  <li>Coffee</li>
  <li>Tea</li>
  <li>Milk</li>
</ol>

Lowercase Roman Numbers:

<ol type="i">
  <li>Coffee</li>
  <li>Tea</li>
  <li>Milk</li>
</ol>

Control List Counting

By default, an ordered list will start counting from 1. If you want to start counting from a specified number, you can use the start attribute:

Example

<ol start="50">
  <li>Coffee</li>
  <li>Tea</li>
  <li>Milk</li>
</ol>

Nested HTML Lists

Lists can be nested (list inside list):

Example

<ol>
  <li>Coffee</li>
  <li>Tea
    <ol>
      <li>Black tea</li>
      <li>Green tea</li>
    </ol>
  </li>
  <li>Milk</li>
</ol>

Note: A list item (<li>) can contain a new list, and other HTML elements, like images and links, etc.

Chapter Summary

• Use the HTML <ol> element to define an ordered list
• Use the HTML type attribute to define the numbering type
• Use the HTML <li> element to define a list item
• Lists can be nested
• List items can contain other HTML elements

HTML List Tags