Williams College

About Williams – Williams College

Academics

Study Away – Academics

Graduate Programs – Academics

Peer Academic Support

Williams College Privacy Notice – Williams College

Rice Center for Teaching

Academic Experience – Admission & Financial Aid

Areas of Study – Academics

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

	Title / URL	Issues
	Williams Collegewww.williams.edu/	2
	About Williams – Williams Collegewww.williams.edu/about/	1
	Academicswww.williams.edu/academics/	1
	Study Away – Academicswww.williams.edu/academics/study-away/	1
	Graduate Programs – Academicswww.williams.edu/academics/graduate-programs/	1
	Peer Academic Supportwww.williams.edu/peer-academic-support/	1
	Williams College Privacy Notice – Williams Collegewww.williams.edu/privacy/	1
	Rice Center for Teachingwww.williams.edu/teaching-center/	1
	Academic Experience – Admission & Financial Aidwww.williams.edu/admission-aid/academics/	1
	Areas of Study – Academicswww.williams.edu/academics/areas-of-study/	1

Ensure lists are marked up correctly

Williams College

Where this issue has occurred