How to fix list on Squarespace

Steps for Squarespace

1. In Squarespace, go to Pages → select the affected page → click Edit.
2. For navigation: Squarespace auto-generates nav HTML — if errors appear here, go to Design → Navigation Styles and switch to a different nav style, or use the Footer editor to rebuild footer links using the built-in Link Block rather than a Code Block.
3. For body content lists: click on the text block containing the list → highlight the items → use the text editor toolbar's List button (bulleted or numbered) to convert them to a proper Squarespace list, which outputs correct `<ul>`/`<li>` markup.
4. For custom Code Blocks (Settings → Advanced → Code Injection or a Code Block on a page): open the code block and manually correct the `<ul>`/`<ol>` HTML to ensure only `<li>` children are used.
5. Save and re-publish the page, then re-test with axe.

What is list?

HTML has strict rules about how lists must be structured. An unordered list (`<ul>`) or ordered list (`<ol>`) should contain only `<li>` (list item) elements as direct children — nothing else. Likewise, every `<li>` must live inside a `<ul>`, `<ol>`, or `<menu>` element. A "list" violation means your page has markup that breaks these rules: for example, a `<div>` or `<p>` placed directly inside a `<ul>`, bare `<li>` tags floating outside any list container, or `<li>` elements nested inside each other without a proper parent. These mistakes are often invisible to sighted visitors, but they create a broken experience for users who rely on assistive technology such as screen readers.

Screen readers (used by roughly 7 million Americans) use list structure to announce "list of 5 items" and let users jump between items quickly. Broken list markup confuses this navigation, causing screen reader users to miss navigation menus, product feature lists, size guides, and checkout steps — directly costing you customers and raising legal exposure under ADA, Section 508, and the European Accessibility Act. Google also uses semantic HTML to understand page structure; malformed lists can weaken how well your navigation and content are parsed. Because courts have increasingly applied ADA Title III to e-commerce websites, incorrect accessibility markup is a genuine legal risk, not just a best-practice issue.

See the complete List guide for every platform and the full background.