As we all know, presentational stuff belongs in CSS, not HTML. In HTML 4.01, the type attribute was replaced by list-style-type , and the start and value attributes were dropped, with only the potential (although fiddly) replacement in some cases of CSS generated content-based counters. So why would we want to specify “presentational” stuff like a list’s style in our HTML?

The type Attribute #

While an ordered list’s counter style is generally presentational, in some documents it can be a part of the document’s meaning, as the specification for the type attribute notes:

The type attribute can be used to specify the kind of marker to use in the list, in the cases where that matters (e.g. because items are to be referenced by their number/letter). — HTML: Living Standard , WHATWG

Examples of this include legal or technical documents, which can contain references to non-decimal list items in prose:

Obligations of the Company – Tranche One

Subject to satisfaction of clause 3.2(a) , on Tranche One Completion the Company will: (a) Purchase a foosball table for staff use (b) … Mockup of an example legal document with a highlighted reference to a non-decimal list item

We can specify the list’s style using the type attribute, with the following values:

type attribute values and their corresponding list counter types <ol type=""> values Equivalent list-style-type type="1" decimal (default style) type="a" lower-alpha type="A" upper-alpha type="i" lower-roman type="I" upper-roman