The Ordered List element is used to present a numbered list of items, sorted by sequence or order of importance and is typically rendered as a numbered list, but this is as the discretion of individual browsers. (NOTE : The list elements are not sorted by the browser when displaying the list. This sorting should be done manually when adding the HTML elements to the desired list text.) Ordered lists can be nested.

An ordered list must begin with the <OL> element which is immediately followed by a <LI> (list item) element:

E.g. :

<OL>
<LI>Click on the desired file to download.
<LI>In the presented dialog box, enter a name to save the file with.
<LI>Click 'OK' to download the file to your local drive.
</OL>

Would render as:

  1. Click on the desired file to download.
  2. In the presented dialog box, enter a name to save the file with.
  3. Click 'OK' to download the file to your local drive.

The Ordered List element can take the COMPACT attribute, which suggests that a compact rendering be used.

As mentioned above, the average ordered list counts 1, 2, 3, ... etc. The TYPE attribute allows authors to specify whether the list items should be marked with:

(TYPE=A) - capital letters. e.g. A, B, C ...
(TYPE=a) - small letters. e.g. a, b, c ...
(TYPE=I) - large roman numerals. e.g. I, II, III ...
(TYPE=i) - small roman numerals. e.g. i, ii, iii ...
(TYPE=1) - or the default numbers. e.g. 1, 2, 3 ...

For lists that wish to start at values other than 1 the new attribute START is available.

START is always specified in the default numbers, and will be converted based on TYPE before display. Thus START=5 would display either an 'E', 'e', 'V', 'v', or '5' based on the TYPE attribute.

E.g., changing the above example to :

<OL TYPE=a START=3>
<LI>Click on the desired file to download.
<LI>In the presented dialog box, enter a name to save the file with.
<LI>Click 'OK' to download the file to your local drive.
</OL>

would present the list as using lower case letters, starting at 'c'.

  1. Click on the desired file to download.
  2. In the presented dialog box, enter a name to save the file with.
  3. Click 'OK' to download the file to your local drive.

To give even more flexibility to lists, the TYPE attribute can be used with the <LI> element. It takes the same values as <OL> and it changes the list type for that item, and all subsequent items. For ordered lists the VALUE attribute is also allowed, which can be used to set the count, for that list item and all subsequent items.

NOTE : The TYPE attribute used in the <OL> Element and the <LI> Element and the START attribute in the <OL> Element are supported only by Netscape and the Internet Explorer.

<OL> and <LI> can also take the CLASS, ID and STYLE attributes to allow style sheet definitions to be applied to them. For more details of these attributes, see the Style Sheets topic.

<MENU> List Elements Overview <UL>