list-style

The list-style CSS shorthand property allows you to set all the list style properties at once.

Try it

The values of this property are applied to list items, including <li> elements and elements with display: list-item;. Because this property is inherited, it can be set on a parent element (normally <ol> or <ul>) to make the same list styling apply to all the nested items.

Constituent properties

This property is a shorthand for the following CSS properties:

Syntax

css
/* type */
list-style: square;

/* image */
list-style: url("../img/shape.png");

/* position */
list-style: inside;

/* two values */
list-style: georgian outside;
list-style: url("img/pip.svg") inside;

/* three values */
list-style: lower-roman url("img/shape.png") outside;

/* Keyword value */
list-style: none;

/* Global values */
list-style: inherit;
list-style: initial;
list-style: revert;
list-style: revert-layer;
list-style: unset;

The list-style property is specified as one, two, or three values in any order. If list-style-type and list-style-image are both set, the list-style-type is used as a fallback if the image is unavailable.

Values

list-style-type

A <counter-style>, <string>, or none. If omitted in the shorthand, the default disc value is used. See list-style-type.

list-style-image

An <image> or none. If omitted, the default none value is used. See list-style-image.

list-style-position

Either inside or outside. If omitted, the default outside value is used. See list-style-position.

none

No list style is used.

Formal definition

Initial valueas each of the properties of the shorthand:
Applies tolist items
Inheritedyes
Computed valueas each of the properties of the shorthand:
Animation typeas each of the properties of the shorthand:

Formal syntax

list-style = 
  <'list-style-position'>  ||
  <'list-style-image'>     ||
  <'list-style-type'>      

<list-style-position> = 
  inside   |
  outside  

<list-style-image> = 
  <image>  |
  none     

<list-style-type> = 
  <counter-style>  |
  <string>         |
  none             

<image> = 
  <url>       |
  <gradient>  

<counter-style> = 
  <counter-style-name>  |
  <symbols()>           

<url> = 
  <url()>  |
  <src()>  

<symbols()> = 
  symbols( <symbols-type>? [ <string> | <image> ]+ )  

<url()> = 
  url( <string> <url-modifier>* )  |
  <url-token>                      

<src()> = 
  src( <string> <url-modifier>* )  

<symbols-type> = 
  cyclic      |
  numeric     |
  alphabetic  |
  symbolic    |
  fixed

Examples

Setting list style type and position

HTML

html
List 1
<ul class="one">
  <li>List Item1</li>
  <li>List Item2</li>
  <li>List Item3</li>
</ul>
List 2
<ul class="two">
  <li>List Item A</li>
  <li>List Item B</li>
  <li>List Item C</li>
</ul>

CSS

css
.one {
  list-style: circle;
}

.two {
  list-style: square inside;
}

Result

Accessibility concerns

Safari does not recognize ordered or unordered lists as lists in the accessibility tree if they have a list-style value of none, unless the list is nested within the <nav> navigation element. This behavior is intentional and is not considered a bug.

To ensure lists are announced as lists, include role="list" to <ol> and <ul> elements, especially if the list is not nested in a <nav>. This restores list semantics without affecting the design:

html
<ul role="list">
  <li>An item</li>
  <li>Another item</li>
</ul>

If an ARIA role is not an option for your code, CSS can be used instead. Adding non-empty pseudo-content such as text or images before each list item can restore list semantics, but impacts the visual appearance. Safari determines if the added pseudo-content suffices as accessible content, restoring list semantics if so. Generally, Safari considers text and images as sufficient, which is why the content: "+ "; shown below works (but requires additional styling to not affect the design).

css
ul {
  list-style: none;
}

ul li::before {
  content: "+ ";
}

A declaration of content: ""; (an empty string) is ignored, as are content values that contain only spaces, such as content: " ";.

These CSS workarounds should only be used when an HTML solution is unavailable, and only after testing to ensure that they don't result in unexpected behaviors that may negatively impact user experience.

Specifications

Specification
CSS Lists and Counters Module Level 3
# list-style-property

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser

See also