Customize list item bullets using CSS

Question

Is it possible to change the size of an <li> element's bullet?

Take a look at the code below:

li {
    list-style: square; // I want to change the size of this squared bullet. 
}

I can't seem to find any way to achieve that.

Answer 1

You mean altering the size of the bullet, I assume? I believe this is tied to the font-size of the li tag. Thus, you can blow up the font-size for the LI, then reduce it for an element contained inside. Kind of sucks to add the extra markup - but something like:

li {font-size:omgHuge;}
li span {font-size:mehNormal;}

Alternately, you can specify an image file for your list bullets, that could be as big as you want:

ul{
  list-style: square url("38specialPlusP.gif");
 }

See: http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_list.asp

Answer 2

You can wrap the contents of the li in another element such as a span. Then, give the li a larger font-size, and set a normal font-size back on the span:

http://jsfiddle.net/RZr2r/

li {
    font-size: 36px;
}
li span {
    font-size: 18px;
}
<ul>
    <li><span>Item 1</span></li>
    <li><span>Item 2</span></li>
    <li><span>Item 3</span></li>
</ul>

Answer 3

Based on @dzimney answer and similar to @Crisman answer (but different):

That answer is good but has indention problem (bullets appear inside of li scope). Probably you don't want this. See simple example list below (this is a default HTML list):

• Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, ei cum offendit partiendo iudicabit. At mei quaestio honestatis, duo dicit affert persecuti ei. Etiam nusquam cu his, nec alterum posidonium philosophia te. Nec an purto iudicabit, no vix quod clita expetendis.

• Quem suscipiantur no eos, sed impedit explicari ea, falli inermis comprehensam est in. Vide dicunt ancillae cum te, habeo delenit deserunt mei in. Tale sint ex his, ipsum essent appellantur et cum.

But if you use the mentioned answer the list will be like below (ignoring the size of the bullets):

• Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, ei cum offendit partiendo iudicabit. At mei quaestio honestatis, duo dicit affert persecuti ei. Etiam nusquam cu his, nec alterum posidonium philosophia te. Nec an purto iudicabit, no vix quod clita expetendis.

• Quem suscipiantur no eos, sed impedit explicari ea, falli inermis comprehensam est in. Vide dicunt ancillae cum te, habeo delenit deserunt mei in. Tale sint ex his, ipsum essent appellantur et cum.

---

So I recommend this approach that resolves the issue:

li {
    list-style-type: none;
    position: relative;    /* It is required for setting position to absolute in the next rule. */
}

li::before {
    content: '\2022';      /* Unicode for • character */
    position: absolute;
    left: -0.8em;          /* Adjust this value so that it appears where you want. */
    font-size: 1.1em;      /* Adjust this value so that it appears what size you want. */
}

<ul>
    <li>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, ei cum offendit partiendo iudicabit. At mei quaestio honestatis, duo dicit affert persecuti ei. Etiam nusquam cu his, nec alterum posidonium philosophia te. Nec an purto iudicabit, no vix quod clita expetendis.</li>
    <li>Quem suscipiantur no eos, sed impedit explicari ea, falli inermis comprehensam est in. Vide dicunt ancillae cum te, habeo delenit deserunt mei in. Tale sint ex his, ipsum essent appellantur et cum.</li>
</ul>

Answer 4

Depending on the level of IE support needed, you could also use the :before selector with the bullet style set as the content property.

li {  
  list-style-type: none;
  font-size: small;
}

li:before {
  content: '\2022';
  font-size: x-large;
}

You may have to look up the HTML ASCII for the bullet style you want and use a converter for CSS Hex value.

Answer 5

Another way of changing the size of the bullets would be:

1. Disabling the bullets altogether
2. Re-adding the custom bullets with the help of ::before pseudo-element.

Example:

ul {
  list-style-type: none;
}

li::before {
  display:          inline-block;
  vertical-align:   middle;
  width:            5px;
  height:           5px;
  background-color: #000000;
  margin-right:     8px;
  content:          ' '
}

<ul>
  <li>first element</li>
  <li>second element</li>
</ul>

No markup changes needed

Answer 6

I assume you mean the size of the bullet at the start of each list item. If that's the case, you can use an image instead of it:

list-style-image:url('bigger.gif');
list-style-type:none;

If you meant the actual size of the li element, then you can change that as normal with width and height.

Answer 7

<ul>
    <li id="bigger"></li>
    <li></li>
    <li></li>
  </ul>

  <style>
     #bigger .li {height:##px; width:##px;}
  </style>

Answer 8

You have to use an image to change the actual size or form of the bullet itself:

You can use a background image with appropriate padding to nudge content so it doesn't overlap:

list-style-image:url(bigger.gif);

or

background-image: url(images/bullet.gif);

Answer 9

In case you do not want to wrap the content in your <li>s with <span>s, you can also use :before like this:

ul {
  list-style: none;
  }
li {
  position: relative;
  padding-left: 15px;
  line-height: 16px;
}
li:before {
  content: '\2022';
  line-height: 16px; /*match the li line-height for vertical centered bullets*/
  position: absolute;
  left: 0;
}
li.huge:before {
  font-size: 30px;
}

li.small:before {
  font-size: 10px;
}

Adjust your font sizes on the :before to whatever you would like.

<ul>
  <li class="huge">huge bullet</li>
  <li class="small">smaller bullet</li>
  <li class="huge">multi line item with custom<br/> sized bullet</li>
  <li>normal bullet</li>
</ul>

Answer 10

If you wrap your <li> content in a <span> or other tag, you may change the font size of the <li>, which will change the size of the bullet, then reset the content of the <li> to its original size. You may use em units to resize the <li> bullet proportionally.

For example:

<ul>
    <li><span>First item</span></li>
    <li><span>Second item</span></li>
</ul>

Then CSS:

li {
    list-style-type: disc;
    font-size: 0.8em;
}

li * {
    font-size: initial;
}

A more complex example:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <title>List Item Bullet Size</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
    <style>
ul.disc li {
    list-style-type: disc;
    font-size: 1.5em;
}

ul.square li {
    list-style-type: square;
    font-size: 0.8em;
}

li * {
    font-size: initial;
}
    </style>
</head>
<body>

<h1>First</h1>
<ul class="disc">
    <li><span>First item</span></li>
    <li><span>Second item</span></li>
</ul>

<h1>Second</h1>
<ul class="square">
    <li><span>First item</span></li>
    <li><span>Second item</span></li>
</ul>

</body>
</html>

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