College of Visual and Performing Arts - JMU

James Madison University News - JMU

JMU Online and Distance Learning - JMU

Give to JMU - JMU

Graduate Programs: Areas of Study - JMU

The Graduate School - JMU

School of Professional & Continuing Education (SPCE) - JMU

University Recreation - JMU

University Career Center - JMU

About Student Life - JMU

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

June 2025

May 2025

James Madison University

Title / URL	Issues
College of Visual and Performing Arts - JMUwww.jmu.edu/arts/index.shtml	24
James Madison University News - JMUwww.jmu.edu/news/index.shtml	5
JMU Online and Distance Learning - JMUwww.jmu.edu/online/index.shtml	3
Give to JMU - JMUwww.jmu.edu/give/index.shtml	3
Graduate Programs: Areas of Study - JMUwww.jmu.edu/grad/programs/index.shtml	3
The Graduate School - JMUwww.jmu.edu/grad/index.shtml	3
School of Professional & Continuing Education (SPCE) - JMUwww.jmu.edu/pce/index.shtml	3
University Recreation - JMUwww.jmu.edu/recreation/index.shtml	3
University Career Center - JMUwww.jmu.edu/career/index.shtml	3
About Student Life - JMUwww.jmu.edu/student-life/index.shtml	3

Ensure lists are marked up correctly

James Madison University

Where this issue has occurred