This page documents an English Wikipedia style guideline. It is a generally accepted standard that editors should attempt to follow, though it is best treated with common sense, and occasional exceptions may apply. Any substantive edit to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page.

Shortcuts: WP:L WP:LIST MOS:LIST

This page in a nutshell: Lists, categories and navigation templates are synergistic—the benefits of their redundancy are covered in WP:CLN. Lists may be embedded in articles or may be stand alone articles Lists should have a self-explanatory title, and a lead-in description with further explanation as required.

Lists are commonly used in Wikipedia to organize information. Lists may be found within the body of a prose article, or as a stand-alone article. This guideline explains when and how to use lists appropriately.

[edit] Types of lists

A list can stand alone as a self contained page, or it can be embedded in an article.

[edit] List articles

List articles are encyclopedia pages consisting of a lead section followed by a list (which may or may not be divided by headings). The items on these lists include links to articles in a particular subject area, and may include additional information about the listed items. The titles of list articles typically begin with the type of list it is (List of, Index of, etc.), followed by the article's subject, for example: List of vegetable oils. They can be organised alphabetically, by subject classification or by topics in a flat or hierarchical structure.

The title and bullet style or vertical style is common for this type of list. These Wikipedia articles follow the Wikipedia:Lists (stand-alone lists) style guideline.

Types of list articles include:

• A Glossary page presents definitions for specialized terms in a subject area. Glossaries contain a small working vocabulary and definitions for important or frequently encountered concepts, usually including idioms or metaphors useful in a subject area. For more information, see Wikipedia:Manual of Style (glossaries).
• An Index of articles page presents an alphabetical list of articles related to the subject of the index.
• A Bibliography page presents a list of relevant books, journal or other references for a subject area. Bibliographies are useful for expanding Further Reading topics for Summary style articles.
• A Discography page presents a listing of all recordings which a musician or singer features. Additionally, discographies may be compiled based on a particular musical genre or record label, etc.
• An Etymology is a list of the origin and histories of words with a common theme.
• Set index articles document a set of items that share the same (or a similar) name. They are different from disambiguation pages in that they are fully-fledged articles meant to document multiple subjects, while disambiguation pages are for navigation purposes only.
• Dynamic lists change as the subjects they cover change, and may never be completed.

[edit] Embedded lists

Embedded lists are either included in an article or appended to the end of articles. They present information or aid in navigation to related articles. Some examples include: See also lists, Compare lists, Related topics lists, Reference lists, and lists of links under the heading External links. To see how to include a list in an article, go to Wikipedia:Lists (embedded lists)

[edit] Purposes of lists

Redundancy of lists and categories is beneficial because the two categories work together; the principle is covered in the guideline Wikipedia:Categories, lists, and navigation templates. Like categories, lists can be used for keeping track of changes in the listed pages, using the Related Changes feature. Unlike a category, a list also allows detection of deletion of its entries, and, more generally, a history of its contents is available; lists also permit a large number of entries to appear on a single page.

Lists have three main purposes:

[edit] Information

The list may be a valuable information source. This is particularly the case for a structured list. Examples would include lists organized chronologically, grouped by theme, or annotated lists.

[edit] Navigation

Lists contain internally linked terms and thus in aggregate serve as natural tables of contents and indexes of Wikipedia. If users have some general idea of what they are looking for but do not know the specific terminology, they could browse the lists of basic topics and more comprehensive lists of topics, which in turn lead to most if not all of Wikipedia's lists, which in turn lead to related articles. Users without a specific research goal in mind might also find the articles listed in articles' see also sections useful. Lists are also provided in portals to assist in navigating their subjects, and lists are often placed in articles via the use of series boxes and other navigational templates.

Users with a specific research goal, described in one or two words, are likely to find Wikipedia's search box useful.

[edit] Development

Some lists are useful for Wikipedia development purposes. The lists of related topics give an indication of the state of Wikipedia, the articles that have been written, and the articles that have yet to be written. However, as Wikipedia is optimized for readers over editors, any lists which exist primarily for development or maintenance purposes (such as a list that consists primarily of red links) should be in project or user space, not the main space.

[edit] List naming

For a stand-alone list the list's title is the page name. For an embedded list, the list's title is usually a section title (for instance Latin Empire#Latin Emperors of Constantinople, 1204–1261), but it can be shorter, see for example Streamlined style or horizontal style below. The list title should not be misleading (and should normally not include abbreviations), but overly precise list titles can be less useful (and make the list difficult to find); the precise inclusion criterion of the list should be spelled out in the lead section (see below), not the title. For instance, words like "complete," "famous" and "notable" are normally excluded from list titles, and instead the lead makes clear that that list is complete, or is limited to famous or notable members.

[edit] List content

[edit] Lead section or paragraph

The contents of an article that is a stand-alone list should be clear. If the title does not already clarify what the list includes, then the list's lead section should do so. Don't leave readers confused over the list's inclusion criteria or have editors guessing what may be added to the list.

However short or schematic a list description, Wikipedia:Neutral point of view applies, including:

It should not be asserted that the most popular view or some sort of intermediate view among the different views is the correct one.

Lead sections and paragraphs should also not go counter the recommendations of the Self-references to avoid guideline.

[edit] Lead sections in stand-alone lists

Stand-alone lists should always include a lead section just as other articles do.

Wikipedia:Featured list criteria recommends that "[a list] has an engaging lead section that introduces the subject, and defines the scope and inclusion criteria of the list."

Further, non-obvious characteristics of a list, for instance regarding the list's structure, should be explained in its lead section (example: List of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach), or in a separate introductory section (example: List of compositions by Franz Schubert#How Schubert's compositions are listed).

Lists should not be used to create content forks between a topic that has a separate wikipedia article (e.g. "republic") and a list complementary to that topic (e.g. "List of republics").

[edit] Lead paragraphs in embedded lists

Embedded lists should have a lead paragraph in cases where the title is ambiguous or when the list has non-obvious characteristics.

[edit] Organization

Although lists may be organized in different ways, they must always be organized. The most basic form of organization is alphabetical or numerical (such as List of Star Wars starfighters), though if items have specific dates a chronological format is sometimes preferable (List of Belarusian Prime Ministers). When using a more complex form of organization, (by origin, by use, by type, etc.), the criteria for categorization must be clear and consistent. Just as a reader or editor could easily assume that the headings A, B, C would be followed by D (rather than 1903), more complex systems should be just as explicit. If a list of Australians in international prisons contains the headings Argentina and Cambodia (organization by country), it would be inappropriate for an editor to add the heading Drug trafficking (organization by offense). If a list entry logically belongs in two or more categories (e.g., an Australian in an Argentine prison for drug trafficking), this suggests that the list categorization might be flawed, and should be re-examined.

Lists should never contain Unsorted or Miscellaneous headings, as all items worthy of inclusion in the list can be sorted by some criteria, although it is entirely possible that the formatting of the list would need to be revamped to include all appropriate items. Not-yet-sorted items may be included on the list's talk page while their categorization is determined.

[edit] Listed items

Lists, whether they are embedded lists or stand-alone lists, are encyclopedic content as are paragraphs and articles, and they are equally subject to Wikipedia's content policies such as Verifiability, No original research, Neutral point of view, and others.

Difficult or contentious subjects for which the definition of the topic itself is disputed should be discussed on the talk page in order to attain consensus and to ensure that each item to be included on the list is adequately referenced and that the page on which the list appears as a whole represents a neutral point of view.

The principle of Neutral Point of View requires that we describe competing views without endorsing any one in particular. Wikipedia:No original research applies equally to a list of like things as it does for the content article on each individual thing listed.

The verifiability policy states that if material is challenged or likely to be challenged, it is the responsibility of the editor who adds or restores the material to an article to cite sources for that material. Inclusion of material on a list should be based on what reliable sources say, not on what the editor interprets the source to be saying. In the case of edits lacking citations, according to Wikipedia:Verifiability:

Any material lacking a reliable source may be removed, but editors may object if you remove material without giving them sufficient time to provide references. If you want to request a source for an unsourced statement, consider tagging a sentence by adding the {{fact}} template, a section with {{unreferencedsection}}, or the article with {{refimprove}} or {{unreferenced}}. Alternatively, you may leave a note on the talk page requesting a source, or you may move the material to the talk page.

However, in lists that involve living persons, the following from the Biographies of living persons policy applies:

Unsourced or poorly sourced contentious material about living persons—whether the material is negative, positive, or just questionable—should be removed immediately and without waiting for discussion, from Wikipedia articles, talk pages, user pages, and project space.

[edit] Category

You can add a suitable subcategory of Category:Lists at the bottom of the page.

[edit] List styles

There are several ways of presenting lists on Wikipedia.

[edit] Bulleted lists

  Title of list * Example 1 * Example 2 * Example 3 

 <p><a name="Title_of_list" id="Title_of_list"></a></p> <h2><span class="mw-headline">Title of list</span></h2> <ul> <li>Example 1</li> <li>Example 2</li> <li>Example 3</li> </ul> 

As a matter of style, list items should start with a capital letter. They should not have a punctuation mark such as a period, a comma or a semi-colon at the end, except if a list item is one or more full sentences, in which case there is a period at the end.

This style is appropriate for long lists, or lists of entries which consist of both a link and explanatory text. Also, it is appropriate when the article already has several titles and/or subtitles.

The Title provides a direct edit point, if one enables section editing. It also enables the automatic table of contents system to detect the list. It is not required, however.

In general, do not double-space the lines of the list as in this example:

  Title of list  * Example 1  * Example 2  * Example 3 

 <p><a name="Title_of_list" id="Title_of_list"></a></p> <h2><span class="mw-headline">Title of list</span></h2> <ul> <li>Example 1</li> </ul> <ul> <li>Example 2</li> </ul> <ul> <li>Example 3</li> </ul> 

Doing this actually produces three lists with one item each! Notice the rendered HTML in which there are as many <ul> tags as <li> tags. This can adversely affect machine-readability of the content if a continuous list is expected. Moreover in certain web browsers, the extra white-space between one singular list and the next can have a visually jarring effect.

In some cases, like when the items in unordered lists are many sentences or even a paragraph long, inserting blank lines may be acceptable for more practical editing. But such cases may be better treated as actual paragraphs rather than bulky lists. Also, sub-bulleted items (marked up with two or more asterisks, like **) cannot be separated by blank lines because double-spacing here is guaranteed to noticeably mangle the intended layout in all browsers.

[edit] Numbered lists

Similar to the above, use a # symbol to obtain a numbered list:

  Title of list  # Example 1 # Example 2 # Example 3 

 <p><a name="Title_of_list" id="Title_of_list"></a></p> <h2><span class="mw-headline">Title of list</span></h2> <ol> <li>Example 1</li> <li>Example 2</li> <li>Example 3</li> </ol> 

Blank lines between items of an ordered list will not only cause the same problems as in the previous example, but will also restart the numbering at "1". This cannot be fixed without complex wiki markup (defeating ease-of-editing expectations), so double-spacing should always be avoided in numbered lists.

[edit] Streamlined style or horizontal style

The format is:

 ''Title of list:'' example 1, example 2, example 3 

Title of list: example 1, example 2, example 3

The style requires less space on the page, and is preferred if there are only a few entries in the list, it can be read easily, and a direct edit point is not required. The list items should start with a lowercase letter unless they are proper nouns.

See also {{Flatlist}} for horizontal lists with semantically-correct XHTML mark-up.

[edit] Definition lists

The format is:

 ; Term 1 : Definition 1 ; Term 2 : Definition 2 ; Term 3 : Definition 3 

Term 1 

Definition 1

Term 2 

Definition 2

Term 3 

Definition 3

Use this definition list format instead of artificial ones like

 * Term – Definition 

• Term – Definition

or

 * '''Term''': Definition 

• Term: Definition

In some cases tables are better-suited to definitions than definition lists.

As with unordered (bulleted) lists, items in definition lists should generally not be double-spaced, but occasionally may be so for the sake of easier editing. One way to avoid breaking definition lists but still easing editing is to put the definition on a separate line immediately following the term, like so:

 ; Term 1 : This is the definition of the first term and may be quite long. ; Term 2 : This is the definition of the second term, which may also be long. 

This syntax keeps the terms and definitions within a single definition list, and the alternation of short terms and long definitions makes the separate components easy to spot while editing. The resulting layout and HTML are identical to what the single-line syntax generates.

[edit] Tables

Although the use of tables to display lists is discouraged—because they provide low-quality contextual information and accessibility and have a more complex notation that hinders editing—there are some instances where they can be useful, such as when three or more columns are required. See Wikipedia:When to use tables

[edit] Comma-separated Lists

In situations such as info boxes, a comma separated list that is outside the context of a sentence may be useful - in this case, a format such as:

 ; List type: entry one, entry two, entry three 

is most appropriate—note the capitalization of only the first word in this list (obviously, words that are normally capitalized would still be capitalized).

[edit] Boilerplate text

Directly before an incomplete list, insert {{expand list}}, which will substitute the following onto the page:

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Several topic-specific variations of this template are also available within Category:List notification templates. Only one of {{expand list}} or its variations should be added, unless the topic is significantly related to more than one of the subcategories. Do not add both {{expand list}} AND a variation to any list.

[edit] See also

• {{flatlist}} – for a semantically correct and accessible way of marking up inline lists.
• Wikipedia:Line break handling – Covers among other things how to properly handle the line wrapping in horizontal link lists.
• Help:Sorting – Tables on Wikipedia can be made sortable with class="sortable", this page explains how.
• Wikipedia:Stand-alone lists
• Wikipedia:Manual of Style (disambiguation pages) – Disambiguation pages are in fact "lists of homographs", with their own page layout specifics.
• Wikipedia:WikiProject Laundromat – The project's goal is to reduce the number of inappropriate laundry lists in Wikipedia articles.