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Vanuan
Vanuan

This is an outdated answer written in 2012

To summarise the other answers here – if you want finer control over the space between bullets and the text in a <li> list item, your options are:

(1) UseRemove the default marker and fake it with a background image:

2. UseAdd more space by adding padding on the <li> tag (assumes list-style-position: outside, doesn't remove default spacing)

(3) Wrap. Extend the text in an extra <span> elementlist item beyond its box using a negative margin

To summarise the other answers here – if you want finer control over the space between bullets and the text in a <li> list item, your options are:

(1) Use a background image:

2. Use padding on the <li> tag

(3) Wrap the text in an extra <span> element

This is an outdated answer written in 2012

To summarise the other answers here – if you want finer control over the space between bullets and the text in a <li> list item, your options are:

(1) Remove the default marker and fake it with a background image:

2. Add more space by adding padding on the <li> tag (assumes list-style-position: outside, doesn't remove default spacing)

3. Extend the list item beyond its box using a negative margin

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Joel
Joel

To summarise the other answers here – if you want finer control over the space between bullets and the text in a <li> list item, your options are:

(1) Use a background image:

<style type="text/css">
li {
    list-style-type:none;
    background-image:url(bullet.png);
}
</style>

<ul>
    <li>Some text</li>
</ul>

Advantages:

  • You can use any image you want for the bullet
  • You can use CSS background-position to position the image pretty much anywhere you want in relation to the text, using pixels, ems or %

Disadvantages:

  • Adds an extra (albeit small) image file to your page, increasing the page weight
  • If a user increases the text size on their browser, the bullet will stay at the original size. It'll also likely get further out of position as the text size increases
  • If you're developing a 'responsive' layout using only percentages for widths, it could be difficult to get the bullet exactly where you want it over a range of screen widths

2. Use padding on the <li> tag

<style type="text/css">
ul {padding-left:1em}
li {padding-left:1em}
</style>

<ul>
    <li>Some text</li>
</ul>

Advantages:

  • No image = 1 less file to download
  • By adjusting the padding on the <li>, you can add as much extra horizontal space between the bullet and the text as you like
  • If the user increases the text size, the spacing and bullet size should scale proportionally

Disadvantages:

  • Can't move the bullet any closer to the text than the browser default
  • Limited to shapes and sizes of CSS's built-in bullet types
  • Bullet must be same colour as the text
  • No control over vertical positioning of the bullet

(3) Wrap the text in an extra <span> element

<style type="text/css">
li {
    padding-left:1em;
    color:#f00; /* red bullet */
}
li span {
    display:block;
    margin-left:-0.5em;
    color:#000; /* black text */
}
</style>

<ul>
    <li><span>Some text</span></li>
</ul>

Advantages:

  • No image = 1 less file to download
  • You get more control over the position of the bullet than with option (2) – you can move it closer to the text (although despite my best efforts it seems you can't alter the vertical position by adding padding-top to the <span>. Someone else may have a workaround for this, though...)
  • The bullet can be a different colour to the text
  • If the user increases their text size, the bullet should scale in proportion (providing you set the padding & margin in ems not px)

Disadvantages:

  • Requires an extra unsemantic element (this will probably lose you more friends on SO than it will in real life ;) but it's annoying for those who like their code to be as lean and efficient as possible, and it violates the separation of presentation and content that HTML / CSS is supposed to offer)
  • No control over the size and shape of the bullet

Here's hoping for some new list-style features in CSS4, so we can create smarter bullets without resorting to images or exta mark-up :)

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