First time visit: View without clicking anything

Washington University in St. Louis

Page Not Found - Washington University in St. Louis

Directory - Washington University in St. Louis

Compliance and Policies - Washington University in St. Louis

University Facts - Washington University in St. Louis

Cabinet - Washington University in St. Louis

Summer Learning - Washington University in St. Louis

News and Publications - Washington University in St. Louis

Research by School - Washington University in St. Louis

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

Washington University in St. Louis 

Title / URL	Issues
First time visit: View without clicking anythingwustl.edu/	2
Washington University in St. Louiswustl.edu/	2
Page Not Found - Washington University in St. Louiswustl.edu/invented-url-for-404-page	1
Directory - Washington University in St. Louiswustl.edu/directory/	1
Compliance and Policies - Washington University in St. Louiswustl.edu/about/compliance-policies/	1
University Facts - Washington University in St. Louiswustl.edu/about/university-facts/	1
Cabinet - Washington University in St. Louiswustl.edu/about/leadership/cabinet/	1
Summer Learning - Washington University in St. Louiswustl.edu/academics/summer/	1
News and Publications - Washington University in St. Louiswustl.edu/about/news-publications/	1
Research by School - Washington University in St. Louiswustl.edu/research/schools/	1

Ensure lists are marked up correctly

Washington University in St. Louis

Where this issue has occurred