Lists

Learn how to create lists, bulleted and numbered, on your ECEn XML web pages.

It is often useful to break large blocks of content into sections . The ECEn XML web templates use sections to organize all kinds of web content. Sections are used for grouping content, creating tables, and making lists, among other things.

To create lists in the ECEn Web XML, we're going to use <section> tags.

These instructions assume that you already have an ECEn XML web page to edit and know at least a bit about XML. Most content, such as text, links, lists, pictures etc., belongs in the <content> portion of your page; check the instructions below to see if you need to make sure that you have a page with a <content> portion. If you need a quick tutorial or just a simple starter web page download, check out the 'Howdy, World' Tutorial where you can get a brief overview of what files you need to set up a basic ECEn XML web page.

ECEn XML lists are all the same, meaning that the procedure to make a bulleted or numbered list is the same. It is just a matter of how you style the list.

If you need an example, have a look at the Lists Example page. You can view the XML source in your browser by clicking the 'this XML' link at the bottom of the page. Or, you can download the XML source located in the Common Tasks Downloads to the right. (Right click, Save Link Target As...)

Basic Lists

A list is just a way of grouping information together. With that in mind, take a look at the "code" to make a list in the ECEn Web XML:

<section>

<title>

<text>My Favorite Pets</text>

</title>

<style>sub-sections numbered</style>

<section>

<text>Fluffy, a dog</text>

</section>

<section>

<text>Spot, a cat</text>

</section>

<section>

<text>Snuggles, a fish</text>

</section>

Here is what that list would look like on an ECEn XML web page:

My Favorite Pets

1	Fluffy, a dog

2	Spot, a cat

3	Snuggles, a fish

Looking at this "code", you can see one main section, titled 'My Favorite Pets', which has several smaller sections within it, 'Fluffy', 'Spot', and 'Snuggles'. The list elements, 'Fluffy' and friends, are child sections of the main section, 'My Favorite Pets'.

The title of the list might look different, depending on where your list section is in respect to the rest of your content.

To create a list:

1	Create an opening and closing `<section>` tag. If you like, give the section a title. If you're not sure how to do this, check out the Titles and Headings Example. Look along the bottom and click on the "this XML" to get a look at the HTML source.

Create an opening and closing <style> tag. You can choose the list you would like by specifying how you want the sub-sections to look. Specify 'sub-sections bulleted' or 'sub-sections numbered'.
You can choose to style numbered lists in several different ways by adding an additional <style> tag. See the ECEn XML Templates Reference to view all the possible ways to style a numbered list. The Example Lists page has a list with a special numbered style.

3	Create your list items by creating child `<section>` tags.

Place your list item content within the <section> tags. For a simple text list, just enclose your list item text within <text> tags.
Keep in mind that you can put pictures, other sections and special text inside <section> tags, so you can put pictures, other sections and special text in your list. To see all the content that can go within <section> tags, check out the ECEn XML Templates Reference.