Rule library Lists and structure

<li> elements must be contained in a <ul> or <ol>

listitemWCAG 2.0 A

Ensure <li> elements are used semantically

Who this affects

List items sit outside a list container, so the list is not announced as a list.

How to fix it

Wrap <li> elements in a <ul> or <ol>.

Effort Low · ~10 min

Where this sits in the standard

WCAG success criterionLevelEN 301 549 clause
1.3.1 Info and RelationshipsA301-549, 9.1.3.1

EN 301 549 clause 9 applies these criteria to web content. The published version referenced by the European Accessibility Act is V3.2.1, which incorporates WCAG 2.1 level A and AA. More on the standard.

How to check it by hand

Ask the screen reader to list the page's lists. A group announced as "list, 6 items" is navigable; the same content in unmarked divs is not.

Automated testing settles roughly a third of the WCAG success criteria. This rule is one an automated tool detects reliably — but a clean automated result is not proof of conformance.

Reference

Deque's technical write-up for this rule: listitem

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