Unordered List
An unordered list is a simple, flexible way to present related items without implying any order or priority. It’s commonly used in writing, web design, and documentation to group short points, features, examples, or resources.
When to use it
- Grouping related items: Use when items belong together but their sequence doesn’t matter (e.g., ingredients, features).
- Improving scannability: Short bullets are easier to scan than dense paragraphs.
- Design and layout: Ideal for sidebars, menus, and quick references.
Best practices
- Keep items parallel: Start each bullet with the same part of speech (all nouns or all verbs).
- Be concise: Bullets should be short—one line if possible.
- Use punctuation consistently: Either punctuate all items or none; if items are full sentences, end with periods.
- Limit length: If a bullet needs more than two lines, consider making it a sub-list or a short paragraph.
- Use nesting sparingly: One level of nested bullets is fine; deeper nesting reduces clarity.
Accessible unordered lists
- Use semantic markup (e.g., HTML
- with
- ) so assistive technologies recognize the structure.
- Ensure sufficient color contrast and spacing for readability.
- Avoid using symbols alone (like “•”) without proper list markup.
Examples
- Shopping list:
- Milk
- Eggs
- Bread
- Coffee
- Feature list for an app:
- Real-time collaboration
- Offline mode
- Secure authentication
Common mistakes to avoid
- Mixing sentence fragments and full sentences.
- Overloading a single list with too many items.
- Using bullets for long narratives that belong in paragraphs.
Unordered lists are a small formatting choice with outsized impact: when used well they make content clearer, faster to read, and more usable across formats.
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