8.5. Using CSS to generate numbered sequences

The advanced techniques described in this section are supported by most modern browsers but fail completely in IE6 and IE7. Feel free to skip the rest of this chapter unless you need to generate sophisticated number sequences that cannot be handled by the start attribute.

The numbers displayed by ordered lists aren't part of the HTML markup. They're generated automatically by the browser. So, if you add or remove an item in the middle of a list, all subsequent numbers are regenerated. CSS also has the concept of generated content, which can be used to alter the numbering sequence not only of ordered lists, but of any HTML element. Table 8-3 lists the properties that control numbering.