Illinois State University - Illinois’ first public university

Visit Illinois State University

Illinois State University Admissions

Applying to Illinois State University

Cookie Statement | Illinois State

Diversity and Inclusion | Illinois State

Resources for Undocumented Students, DACA, or Dreamers | Illinois State

University Catalog | Illinois State

Administration | Illinois State

Academics at Illinois State 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

December 2025

November 2025

Illinois State University

Title / URL	Issues
Illinois State University - Illinois’ first public universityillinoisstate.edu/	1
Visit Illinois State Universityillinoisstate.edu/visit/	1
Illinois State University Admissionsillinoisstate.edu/admissions/	1
Applying to Illinois State Universityillinoisstate.edu/apply/	1
Cookie Statement \| Illinois Stateillinoisstate.edu/cookie-statement/	1
Diversity and Inclusion \| Illinois Stateillinoisstate.edu/diversity/	1
Resources for Undocumented Students, DACA, or Dreamers \| Illinois Stateillinoisstate.edu/undocumented/	1
University Catalog \| Illinois Stateillinoisstate.edu/catalog/	1
Administration \| Illinois Stateillinoisstate.edu/administration/	1
Academics at Illinois State Universityillinoisstate.edu/academics/	1

Ensure lists are marked up correctly

Illinois State University

Where this issue has occurred