Home - USM

Tuitfees - USM

Information Technology - USM

In-the-news - USM

Financial Affairs - USM

Chancellor Perman's Newsletters - USM

Office of Academic and Student Affairs Staff - USM

Facilities Operations - USM

Staff - USM

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 System of Maryland

Title / URL	Issues
Home - USMwww.usmd.edu/usm/faqs/	78
Tuitfees - USMwww.usmd.edu/usm/adminfinance/budget/tuitfees	8
Information Technology - USMwww.usmd.edu/usm/adminfinance/it/	7
Home - USMwww.usmd.edu/usm/workgroups/diversity/	7
In-the-news - USMwww.usmd.edu/usm/chancellor/in-the-news	7
Financial Affairs - USMwww.usmd.edu/usm/adminfinance/finafair/	7
Chancellor Perman's Newsletters - USMwww.usmd.edu/usm/chancellor/newsletters	7
Office of Academic and Student Affairs Staff - USMwww.usmd.edu/usm/academicaffairs/acastaff	7
Facilities Operations - USMwww.usmd.edu/usm/adminfinance/building/	7
Staff - USMwww.usmd.edu/usm/chancellor/staff	7

Ensure lists are marked up correctly

University System of Maryland

Where this issue has occurred