Academics | The University of Virginia

Faculty & Staff | The University of Virginia

Apply | The University of Virginia

Affording UVA | The University of Virginia

Sports & Recreation | The University of Virginia

Consumer Information | The University of Virginia

Graduate Studies | The University of Virginia

The Arts | The University of Virginia

Admission | The University of Virginia

Facts & Figures | The University of Virginia

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

January 2026

December 2025

University of Virginia

Title / URL	Issues
Academics \| The University of Virginiawww.virginia.edu/academics/	18
Faculty & Staff \| The University of Virginiawww.virginia.edu/facultystaff/	18
Apply \| The University of Virginiawww.virginia.edu/apply/	18
Affording UVA \| The University of Virginiawww.virginia.edu/life/affordinguva/	18
Sports & Recreation \| The University of Virginiawww.virginia.edu/life/recreation/	18
Consumer Information \| The University of Virginiawww.virginia.edu/consumerinfo/	18
Graduate Studies \| The University of Virginiawww.virginia.edu/academics/graduate/	18
The Arts \| The University of Virginiawww.virginia.edu/story/arts/	18
Admission \| The University of Virginiawww.virginia.edu/life/	18
Facts & Figures \| The University of Virginiawww.virginia.edu/facts/	18

Ensure lists are marked up correctly

University of Virginia

Where this issue has occurred