12 Generated content, automatic numbering, and lists

In some cases, authors may want user agents to render content that does not come from the document tree. One familiar example of this is a numbered list; the author does not want to list the numbers explicitly, he or she wants the user agent to generate them automatically. Similarly, authors may want the user agent to insert the word "Figure" before the caption of a figure, or "Chapter 7" before the seventh chapter title. For audio or braille in particular, user agents should be able to insert these strings.

In CSS 2.2, content may be generated by two mechanisms:

• The 'content' property, in conjunction with the :before and :after pseudo-elements.
• Elements with a value of 'list-item' for the 'display' property.

12.1 The :before and :after pseudo-elements

Authors specify the style and location of generated content with the :before and :after pseudo-elements. As their names indicate, the :before and :after pseudo-elements specify the location of content before and after an element's document tree content. The 'content' property, in conjunction with these pseudo-elements, specifies what is inserted.

p.note:before { content: "Note: " }

The formatting objects (e.g., boxes) generated by an element include generated content. So, for example, changing the above style sheet to:

p.note:before { content: "Note: " }
p.note        { border: solid green }

would cause a solid green border to be rendered around the entire paragraph, including the initial string.

The :before and :after pseudo-elements inherit any inheritable properties from the element in the document tree to which they are attached.

q:before {
  content: open-quote;
  color: red
}

In a :before or :after pseudo-element declaration, non-inherited properties take their initial values.

body:after {
    content: "The End";
    display: block;
    margin-top: 2em;
    text-align: center;
}

The :before and :after pseudo-elements interact with other boxes as if they were real elements inserted just inside their associated element.

<p> Text </p>                   p:before { display: block; content: 'Some'; }

<p><span>Some</span> Text </p>  span { display: block }

<h2> Header </h2>     h2:after { display: block; content: 'Thing'; }

<h2> Header <span>Thing</span></h2>   h2 { display: block; }
                                      span { display: block; }

12.2 The 'content' property

This property is used with the :before and :after pseudo-elements to generate content in a document. Values have the following meanings:

none

The pseudo-element is not generated.

normal

Computes to 'none' for the :before and :after pseudo-elements.

<string>

Text content (see the section on strings).

<uri>

The value is a URI that designates an external resource (such as an image). If the user agent cannot display the resource it must either leave it out as if it were not specified or display some indication that the resource cannot be displayed.

<counter>

Counters may be specified with two different functions: 'counter()' or 'counters()'. The former has two forms: 'counter(name)' or 'counter(name, style)'. The generated text is the value of the innermost counter of the given name in scope at this pseudo-element; it is formatted in the indicated style ('decimal' by default). The latter function also has two forms: 'counters(name, string)' or 'counters(name, string, style)'. The generated text is the value of all counters with the given name in scope at this pseudo-element, from outermost to innermost separated by the specified string. The counters are rendered in the indicated style ('decimal' by default). See the section on automatic counters and numbering for more information. The name must not be 'none', 'inherit' or 'initial'. Such a name causes the declaration to be ignored.

open-quote and close-quote

These values are replaced by the appropriate string from the 'quotes' property.

no-open-quote and no-close-quote

Introduces no content, but increments (decrements) the level of nesting for quotes.

attr(X)

This function returns as a string the value of attribute X for the subject of the selector. The string is not parsed by the CSS processor. If the subject of the selector does not have an attribute X, an empty string is returned. The case-sensitivity of attribute names depends on the document language.

The 'display' property controls whether the content is placed in a block or inline box.

H1:before { 
  content: "Chapter: ";
  display: inline;
}

Authors may include newlines in the generated content by writing the "\A" escape sequence in one of the strings after the 'content' property. This inserted line break is still subject to the 'white-space' property. See "Strings" and "Characters and case" for more information on the "\A" escape sequence.

h1:before {
    display: block;
    text-align: center;
    white-space: pre;
    content: "chapter\A hoofdstuk\A chapitre"
}

Generated content does not alter the document tree. In particular, it is not fed back to the document language processor (e.g., for reparsing).

12.3 Quotation marks

In CSS 2.2, authors may specify, in a style-sensitive and context-dependent manner, how user agents should render quotation marks. The 'quotes' property specifies pairs of quotation marks for each level of embedded quotation. The 'content' property gives access to those quotation marks and causes them to be inserted before and after a quotation.

12.3.1 Specifying quotes with the 'quotes' property

This property specifies quotation marks for any number of embedded quotations. Values have the following meanings:

none

The 'open-quote' and 'close-quote' values of the 'content' property produce no quotation marks.

[<string>  <string>]+

Values for the 'open-quote' and 'close-quote' values of the 'content' property are taken from this list of pairs of quotation marks (opening and closing). The first (leftmost) pair represents the outermost level of quotation, the second pair the first level of embedding, etc. The user agent must apply the appropriate pair of quotation marks according to the level of embedding.

/* Specify pairs of quotes for two levels in two languages */
q:lang(en) { quotes: '"' '"' "'" "'" }
q:lang(no) { quotes: "«" "»" '"' '"' }

/* Insert quotes before and after Q element content */
q:before { content: open-quote }
q:after  { content: close-quote }

<HTML lang="en">
  <HEAD>
  <TITLE>Quotes</TITLE>
  </HEAD>
  <BODY>
    <P><Q>Quote me!</Q>
  </BODY>
</HTML>

"Quote me!"

<HTML lang="no">
  <HEAD>
  <TITLE>Quotes</TITLE>
  </HEAD>
  <BODY>
    <P><Q>Trøndere gråter når <Q>Vinsjan på kaia</Q> blir deklamert.</Q>
  </BODY>
</HTML>

«Trøndere gråter når "Vinsjan på kaia" blir deklamert.»

12.3.2 Inserting quotes with the 'content' property

Quotation marks are inserted in appropriate places in a document with the 'open-quote' and 'close-quote' values of the 'content' property. Each occurrence of 'open-quote' or 'close-quote' is replaced by one of the strings from the value of 'quotes', based on the depth of nesting.

'Open-quote' refers to the first of a pair of quotes, 'close-quote' refers to the second. Which pair of quotes is used depends on the nesting level of quotes: the number of occurrences of 'open-quote' in all generated text before the current occurrence, minus the number of occurrences of 'close-quote'. If the depth is 0, the first pair is used, if the depth is 1, the second pair is used, etc. If the depth is greater than the number of pairs, the last pair is repeated. A 'close-quote' or 'no-close-quote' that would make the depth negative is in error and is ignored (at rendering time): the depth stays at 0 and no quote mark is rendered (although the rest of the 'content' property's value is still inserted).

Some typographic styles require open quotation marks to be repeated before every paragraph of a quote spanning several paragraphs, but only the last paragraph ends with a closing quotation mark. In CSS, this can be achieved by inserting "phantom" closing quotes. The keyword 'no-close-quote' decrements the quoting level, but does not insert a quotation mark.

blockquote p:before     { content: open-quote }
blockquote p:after      { content: no-close-quote }
blockquote p.last:after { content: close-quote }

For symmetry, there is also a 'no-open-quote' keyword, which inserts nothing, but increments the quotation depth by one.

12.4 Automatic counters and numbering

Automatic numbering in CSS 2.2 is controlled with two properties, 'counter-increment' and 'counter-reset'. The counters defined by these properties are used with the counter() and counters() functions of the the 'content' property.

The 'counter-increment' property accepts one or more names of counters (identifiers), each one optionally followed by an integer. The integer indicates by how much the counter is incremented for every occurrence of the element. The default increment is 1. Zero and negative integers are allowed.

The 'counter-reset' property also contains a list of one or more names of counters, each one optionally followed by an integer. The integer gives the value that the counter is set to on each occurrence of the element. The default is 0.

The keywords 'none', 'inherit' and 'initial' must not be used as counter names. A value of 'none' on its own means no counters are reset, resp. incremented. 'Inherit' on its own has its usual meaning (see 6.2.1). 'Initial' is reserved for future use.

BODY {
    counter-reset: chapter;      /* Create a chapter counter scope */
}
H1:before {
    content: "Chapter " counter(chapter) ". ";
    counter-increment: chapter;  /* Add 1 to chapter */
}
H1 {
    counter-reset: section;      /* Set section to 0 */
}
H2:before {
    content: counter(chapter) "." counter(section) " ";
    counter-increment: section;
}

If an element increments/resets a counter and also uses it (in the 'content' property of its :before or :after pseudo-element), the counter is used after being incremented/reset.

If an element both resets and increments a counter, the counter is reset first and then incremented.

If the same counter is specified more than once in the value of the 'counter-reset' and 'counter-increment' properties, each reset/increment of the counter is processed in the order specified.

H1 { counter-reset: section 2 section }

H1 { counter-increment: chapter chapter 2 }

The 'counter-reset' property follows the cascading rules. Thus, due to cascading, the following style sheet:

H1 { counter-reset: section -1 }
H1 { counter-reset: imagenum 99 }

will only reset 'imagenum'. To reset both counters, they have to be specified together:

H1 { counter-reset: section -1 imagenum 99 }

12.4.1 Nested counters and scope

Counters are "self-nesting", in the sense that resetting a counter in a descendant element or pseudo-element automatically creates a new instance of the counter. This is important for situations like lists in HTML, where elements can be nested inside themselves to arbitrary depth. It would be impossible to define uniquely named counters for each level.

OL { counter-reset: item }
LI { display: block }
LI:before { content: counter(item) ". "; counter-increment: item }

The scope of a counter starts at the first element in the document that has a 'counter-reset' for that counter and includes the element's descendants and its following siblings with their descendants. However, it does not include any elements in the scope of a counter with the same name created by a 'counter-reset' on a later sibling of the element or by a later 'counter-reset' on the same element.

If 'counter-increment' or 'content' on an element or pseudo-element refers to a counter that is not in the scope of any 'counter-reset', implementations should behave as though a 'counter-reset' had reset the counter to 0 on that element or pseudo-element.

In the example above, an OL will create a counter, and all children of the OL will refer to that counter.

<OL>                    <!-- {item[0]=0        -->
  <LI>item</LI>         <!--  item[0]++ (=1)   -->
  <LI>item              <!--  item[0]++ (=2)   -->
    <OL>                <!--  {item[1]=0       -->
      <LI>item</LI>     <!--   item[1]++ (=1)  -->
      <LI>item</LI>     <!--   item[1]++ (=2)  -->
      <LI>item          <!--   item[1]++ (=3)  -->
        <OL>            <!--   {item[2]=0      -->
          <LI>item</LI> <!--    item[2]++ (=1) -->
        </OL>           <!--                   -->
        <OL>            <!--   }{item[2]=0     -->
          <LI>item</LI> <!--    item[2]++ (=1) -->
        </OL>           <!--                   -->
      </LI>             <!--   }               -->
      <LI>item</LI>     <!--   item[1]++ (=4)  -->
    </OL>               <!--                   -->
  </LI>                 <!--  }                -->
  <LI>item</LI>         <!--  item[0]++ (=3)   -->
  <LI>item</LI>         <!--  item[0]++ (=4)   -->
</OL>                   <!--                   -->
<OL>                    <!-- }{item[0]=0       -->
  <LI>item</LI>         <!--  item[0]++ (=1)   -->
  <LI>item</LI>         <!--  item[0]++ (=2)   -->
</OL>                   <!--                   -->

                     <!--"chapter" counter|"section" counter -->
<body>               <!-- {chapter=0      |                  -->
  <h1>About CSS</h1> <!--  chapter++ (=1) | {section=0       -->
  <h2>CSS 2</h2>     <!--                 |  section++ (=1)  -->
  <h2>CSS 2.2</h2>   <!--                 |  section++ (=2)  -->
  <h1>Style</h1>     <!--  chapter++ (=2) |}{ section=0      -->
</body>              <!--                 | }                -->

The 'counters()' function generates a string composed of all of the counters with the same name that are in scope, separated by a given string.

OL { counter-reset: item }
LI { display: block }
LI:before { content: counters(item, ".") " "; counter-increment: item }

12.4.2 Counter styles

By default, counters are formatted with decimal numbers, but all the styles available for the 'list-style-type' property are also available for counters. The notation is:

counter(name)

for the default style, or:

counter(name, <'list-style-type'>)

All the styles are allowed, including 'disc', 'circle', 'square', and 'none'.

H1:before        { content: counter(chno, upper-latin) ". " }
H2:before        { content: counter(section, upper-roman) " - " }
BLOCKQUOTE:after { content: " [" counter(bq, lower-greek) "]" }
DIV.note:before  { content: counter(notecntr, disc) " " }
P:before         { content: counter(p, none) }

12.4.3 Counters in elements with 'display: none'

An element that is not displayed ('display' set to 'none') cannot increment or reset a counter.

H2.secret {counter-increment: count2; display: none}

Pseudo-elements that are not generated also cannot increment or reset a counter.

h1::before {
    content: normal;
    counter-increment: heading;
}

Elements with 'visibility' set to 'hidden', on the other hand, do increment counters.

12.5 Lists

CSS 2.2 offers basic visual formatting of lists. An element with 'display: list-item' generates a principal block box for the element's content and, depending on the values of 'list-style-type' and 'list-style-image', possibly also a marker box as a visual indication that the element is a list item.

The list properties describe basic visual formatting of lists: they allow style sheets to specify the marker type (image, glyph, or number), and the marker position with respect to the principal box (outside it or within it before content). They do not allow authors to specify distinct style (colors, fonts, alignment, etc.) for the list marker or adjust its position with respect to the principal box; these may be derived from the principal box.

The background properties apply to the principal box only; an 'outside' marker box is transparent.

12.5.1 Lists: the 'list-style-type', 'list-style-image', 'list-style-position', and 'list-style' properties

This property specifies appearance of the list item marker if 'list-style-image' has the value 'none' or if the image pointed to by the URI cannot be displayed. The value 'none' specifies no marker, otherwise there are three types of marker: glyphs, numbering systems, and alphabetic systems.

Glyphs are specified with disc, circle, and square. Their exact rendering depends on the user agent.

Numbering systems are specified with:

decimal

Decimal numbers, beginning with 1.

decimal-leading-zero

Decimal numbers padded by initial zeros (e.g., 01, 02, 03, ..., 98, 99).

lower-roman

Lowercase roman numerals (i, ii, iii, iv, v, etc.).

upper-roman

Uppercase roman numerals (I, II, III, IV, V, etc.).

georgian

Traditional Georgian numbering (an, ban, gan, ..., he, tan, in, in-an, ...).

armenian

Traditional uppercase Armenian numbering.

Alphabetic systems are specified with:

lower-latin or lower-alpha

Lowercase ascii letters (a, b, c, ... z).

upper-latin or upper-alpha

Uppercase ascii letters (A, B, C, ... Z).

lower-greek

Lowercase classical Greek alpha, beta, gamma, ... (α, β, γ, ...)

This specification does not define how alphabetic systems wrap at the end of the alphabet. For instance, after 26 list items, 'lower-latin' rendering is undefined. Therefore, for long lists, we recommend that authors specify true numbers.

CSS 2.2 does not define how the list numbering is reset and incremented. This is expected to be defined in the CSS List Module [CSS3LIST].

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN">
<HTML>
   <HEAD>
     <TITLE>Lowercase latin numbering</TITLE>
     <STYLE type="text/css">
          ol { list-style-type: lower-roman }   
     </STYLE>
  </HEAD>
  <BODY>
    <OL>
      <LI> This is the first item.
      <LI> This is the second item.
      <LI> This is the third item.
    </OL>
  </BODY>
</HTML>

  i This is the first item.
 ii This is the second item.
iii This is the third item.

This property sets the image that will be used as the list item marker. When the image is available, it will replace the marker set with the 'list-style-type' marker.

The size of the image is calculated from the following rules:

1. If the image has an intrinsic width and height, the used width and height are the intrinsic width and height.
2. Otherwise, if the image has an intrinsic ratio and either an intrinsic width or an intrinsic height, the used width/height is the same as the provided intrinsic width/height, and the used value of the missing dimension is calculated from the provided dimension and the ratio.
3. Otherwise, if the image has an intrinsic ratio, the used width is 1em and the used height is calculated from this width and the intrinsic ratio. If this would produce a height larger than 1em, then the used height is instead set to 1em and the used width is calculated from this height and the intrinsic ratio.
4. Otherwise, the image's used width is its intrinsic width if it has one, or else 1em. The image's used height is its intrinsic height if it has one, or else 1em.

ul { list-style-image: url("http://png.com/ellipse.png") }

This property specifies the position of the marker box with respect to the principal block box. Values have the following meanings:

outside

The marker box is outside the principal block box. The position of the list-item marker adjacent to floats is undefined in CSS 2.2. CSS 2.2 does not specify the precise location of the marker box or its position in the painting order, but does require that for list items whose 'direction' property is 'ltr' the marker box be on the left side of the content and for elements whose 'direction' property is 'rtl' the marker box be on the right side of the content. The marker box is fixed with respect to the principal block box's border and does not scroll with the principal block box's content. In CSS 2.2, a UA may hide the marker if the element's 'overflow' is other than 'visible'. (This is expected to change in the future.) The size or contents of the marker box may affect the height of the principal block box and/or the height of its first line box, and in some cases may cause the creation of a new line box. Note: This interaction may be more precisely defined in a future level of CSS.

inside

The marker box is placed as the first inline box in the principal block box, before the element's content and before any :before pseudo-elements. CSS 2.2 does not specify the precise location of the marker box.

<HTML>
  <HEAD>
    <TITLE>Comparison of inside/outside position</TITLE>
    <STYLE type="text/css">
      ul         { list-style: outside }
      ul.compact { list-style: inside }
    </STYLE>
  </HEAD>
  <BODY>
    <UL>
      <LI>first list item comes first
      <LI>second list item comes second
    </UL>

    <UL class="compact">
      <LI>first list item comes first
      <LI>second list item comes second
    </UL>
  </BODY>
</HTML>

The 'list-style' property is a shorthand notation for setting the three properties 'list-style-type', 'list-style-image', and 'list-style-position' at the same place in the style sheet.

ul { list-style: upper-roman inside }  /* Any "ul" element */
ul > li > ul { list-style: circle outside } /* Any "ul" child 
                                             of an "li" child 
                                             of a "ul" element */

Although authors may specify 'list-style' information directly on list item elements (e.g., "li" in HTML), they should do so with care. The following rules look similar, but the first declares a descendant selector and the second a (more specific) child selector.

ol.alpha li   { list-style: lower-alpha } /* Any "li" descendant of an "ol" */ 
ol.alpha > li { list-style: lower-alpha } /* Any "li" child of an "ol" */

Authors who use only the descendant selector may not achieve the results they expect. Consider the following rules:

<HTML>
  <HEAD>
    <TITLE>WARNING: Unexpected results due to cascade</TITLE>
    <STYLE type="text/css">
      ol.alpha li  { list-style: lower-alpha }
      ul li        { list-style: disc }
    </STYLE>
  </HEAD>
  <BODY>
    <OL class="alpha">
      <LI>level 1
      <UL>
         <LI>level 2
      </UL>
    </OL>
  </BODY>
</HTML>

The desired rendering would have level 1 list items with 'lower-alpha' labels and level 2 items with 'disc' labels. However, the cascading order will cause the first style rule (which includes specific class information) to mask the second. The following rules solve the problem by employing a child selector instead:

ol.alpha > li  { list-style: lower-alpha }
ul li   { list-style: disc }

Another solution would be to specify 'list-style' information only on the list type elements:

ol.alpha  { list-style: lower-alpha }
ul        { list-style: disc }

Inheritance will transfer the 'list-style' values from OL and UL elements to LI elements. This is the recommended way to specify list style information.

ul { list-style: url("http://png.com/ellipse.png") disc }

A value of 'none' within the 'list-style' property sets whichever of 'list-style-type' and 'list-style-image' are not otherwise specified to 'none'. However, if both are otherwise specified, the declaration is in error (and thus ignored).

ul { list-style: none }