Cornell University | Cornell Maps

About | Cornell University

Public Engagement | Cornell

Fields of Study | Cornell University

University Mission | Cornell University

About Ithaca | Cornell University

Continuing Education | Cornell University

Research | Cornell University

Admissions | Cornell University

Lists (e.g., `<ul>` or `<ol>`) should only contain list items (`<li>`) as a direct descendant 
to ensure that screen readers can accurately report the amount of items contained in the list. 

## Example

In the following example, some screen readers would say this list has two items, instead of 
four: 

```html
<ul>
    <div class="some_class">
        <li>Example 1</li>
    </div>
    <div class="some_other_class">
        <li>Example 2</li>
        <li>Example 3</li>
        <li>Example 4</li>
    </div>
</ul>
```

To fix this, you would need to remove the `<div class="some_class">` and 
`<div class="some_other_class>` elements and ensure only `<li>` list items remain.

## Further reading

The [formal specification for the list element](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/ul)
shows what is and is not permitted inside an `<ul>` and `<ol>`.

See [Technique H88](https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/H88.html) for more information.

list-not-following-semantics

July 2025

June 2025

Cornell University

Title / URL	Issues
Cornell University \| Cornell Mapswww.cornell.edu/about/maps/	2
About \| Cornell Universitywww.cornell.edu/about/	2
Public Engagement \| Cornellwww.cornell.edu/engagement/	2
Fields of Study \| Cornell Universitywww.cornell.edu/academics/fields.cfm	2
University Mission \| Cornell Universitywww.cornell.edu/about/mission.cfm	2
About Ithaca \| Cornell Universitywww.cornell.edu/about/locations/ithaca/	2
About \| Cornell Universitywww.cornell.edu/about/timeline/	2
Continuing Education \| Cornell Universitywww.cornell.edu/academics/continuing.cfm	2
Research \| Cornell Universitywww.cornell.edu/research/	2
Admissions \| Cornell Universitywww.cornell.edu/admissions/	2

Ensure lists are marked up correctly

Cornell University

Where this issue has occurred