How to fix listitem on BigCommerce

Steps for BigCommerce

1. Go to Storefront → Themes → click Customize on your active theme, then Advanced → Edit Theme Files (opens the Stencil theme editor), or download the theme via Theme Editor → Download.
2. Search your template files (typically in 'templates/components/' and 'templates/layout/') for `<li>` tags missing a `<ul>` or `<ol>` parent.
3. Open the relevant '.html' template file (e.g. 'templates/components/header.html', 'templates/components/footer.html') and wrap orphaned `<li>` elements with `<ul>…</ul>`.
4. If using Page Builder widgets, go to Storefront → Pages, open the affected page, click Edit, find the HTML widget with the issue, and update the markup.
5. Upload or save the corrected theme file and preview before publishing.
6. Verify the fix with the axe browser extension.

<!-- ❌ WRONG: <li> with no list parent -->
<li>Free shipping over $50</li>
<li>30-day returns</li>

<!-- ✅ CORRECT: <li> items wrapped in <ul> -->
<ul>
  <li>Free shipping over $50</li>
  <li>30-day returns</li>
</ul>

<!-- ✅ CORRECT for navigation menus -->
<nav aria-label="Main">
  <ul>
    <li><a href="/shop">Shop</a></li>
    <li><a href="/about">About</a></li>
  </ul>
</nav>

What is listitem?

In HTML, a list item (`<li>`) is only meaningful when it lives inside a list container — either an unordered list (`<ul>`) or an ordered list (`<ol>`). When a `<li>` tag appears on its own, without that parent wrapper, the HTML is technically invalid and breaks the expected structure. This often happens when a developer copies a navigation menu, product feature list, or footer links and accidentally removes the surrounding `<ul>` or `<ol>` tags, or when a theme or page-builder outputs `<li>` tags outside of a proper list container.

Screen readers used by blind and low-vision shoppers rely on correct list structure to announce items as "list of 5 items" and let users jump between them efficiently. An orphaned `<li>` breaks that experience — the screen reader may skip the item entirely or read it confusingly, making navigation menus, feature bullet points, and product lists unusable. This violates WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships), which is a Level A requirement — the lowest acceptable bar — meaning failing it creates real legal risk under laws like the ADA (US), AODA (Canada), and EAA (EU). Beyond legal exposure, an inaccessible store loses business from the estimated 1-in-5 shoppers who have a disability, and invalid HTML can subtly harm how search engines parse and index your page content.

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