Add class to <ul> in List block.

[pagelab]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

The subject of adding classes to default blocks was discussed at #6639, and I know you can filter the List block to add a new class, but the wp-block-list class should be present by default.

Without a specific class, any style applied to the generic <ul> will inadvertently affect elements from third-party plugins or custom HTML added elsewhere, and we can't know beforehand if they will be affected.

One practical example happens when you try, for instance, to style the List block in a theme to add new bullets and you are also using the Elementor plugin.

Without a class, the generic .ul style will affect <li> elements used by Elementor in their control handles – unless you explicitly filter the class or resort to a convoluted solution as ul:not(.elementor-editor-element-settings):not(.wp-block-gallery):not(.wp-block-categories):not(.wp-block-latest-posts)... and so on.

This will surely happen with lots of other plugins that use the <ul> tag for tasks like this.

Image 1: Custom style added to <ul> tag.

Image 2: Custom style affecting a third-party plugin.

Describe the solution you'd like
Just add the wp-block-list class to the <ul> tag by default, in the List block.

Describe alternatives you've considered

• Filter the List block to add a new class
• Add multiple :not() to the generic .ul style to target only the List block.

Tested with 5.0-RC1-43946

[swissspidy]

Note that using non-specific selectors like ul is a bad idea in general. I'm sure you could use something like .content-area ul in your theme.

[pagelab]

@swissspidy That was just an example.

The problem would persist if you utilize .content-area ul – or other more specific selector.

The only way to solve the issue is to add a class to the <ul> tag itself.

[designsimply]

I think that the reason for avoiding adding classnames for everything by default is that not every theme would need them by default and so filtering in the cases where it makes sense is the preferred method when possible. Adding the Needs Design Feedback label to get a check on that assumption and to pull in feedback from the core design team.

[MichaelCampanella]

I'm in favor of unordered lists having a class attached, especially with other blocks like the gallery block using the ul tag.

[saltnpixels]

I am in favor of the ul block have some sort of class. Without it I cannot target those blocks easily.
I already made an issue once before and showed how the blocks could use a class or even a wrapper to stop from major issues in themes, especially ones where there is a sidebar or where pre and code are used without a wrapper...
:/ sadly it seems classes and div wrappers are not being added to the basic blocks.

[swissspidy]

sadly it seems classes and div wrappers are not being added to the basic blocks.

Adding div wrappers around every block by default would be quite a backward compatibility break.

[saltnpixels]

Adding div wrappers around every block by default would be quite a backward compatibility break.

How so? Backwards to what? Gutenberg hasn't been officially released yet has it?
And I doubt it would break anything except floats, which have their own issues.

I am currently dealing with the issue that p tags made by Gutenberg should have a margin bottom, while in other areas it should not. There is no way to target the Gutenberg ones.

[MichaelCampanella]

I kept having styles from my unordered lists fall onto the gallery block so I resorted to styling my unordered lists by appending :not([class]) to them. Which feels very hacky.

[cecoates]

A user emailed in:

1961093-zen

reporting that the gallery block on their site seems to be inheriting the margins for the theme itself.

That sounds very similar to what you're describing here. Would giving the block its own class allow things like "resetting" ul/li margins?

See also:

Automattic/themes#735
Automattic/themes#447
Automattic/themes#596

[Fcog]

Please add a class to the ul and li tags. I need them to style the default gutenberg list style. I can't use the parent class because the custom blocks ul and li will be styled.

[onetrev]

I very much agree wp-block-list should be included by default for <ul> and <ol> items. But the good news is for any developer you can at least easily add the class using the code found here.

UPDATE!! The original answer in the link above technically works, but there are issues doing it this way, in particular you can then no longer add new classes later. But below in this issue is very much a good workaround.

[aduth]

Without a specific class, any style applied to the generic <ul> will inadvertently affect elements from third-party plugins or custom HTML added elsewhere, and we can't know beforehand if they will be affected.

[...]

Without a class, the generic .ul style will affect <li> elements used by Elementor in their control handles – unless you explicitly filter the class or resort to a convoluted solution as ul:not(.elementor-editor-element-settings):not(.wp-block-gallery):not(.wp-block-categories):not(.wp-block-latest-posts)... and so on.

If I understand correctly: This is not inadvertent, the default list block intentionally absorbs generic ul styling (either explicit or browser-default). A list block should expect to be styled the same as any other standard list on the page, and vice-versa. The block implementation shouldn't be optimized on the assumption of a CSS reset (lists stripped of their default styling), but instead that the onus is on a custom variation of a list to unset its own default styling, or choose a more appropriate HTML tag which does not carry the same styling implications.

[pagelab]

But the good news is for any developer you can at least easily add the class using the code found here.

Unfortunately, this is not a solution because it brings a bigger problem. If you add a class to the List block like this on the frontend (via enqueue_block_assets), you will also add many JS files from the editor.

[pagelab]

(...) that the onus is on a custom variation of a list to unset its own default styling,

This would only work if we could control the whole codebase, which is obviously not the case.

A custom style created by any theme (or plugin), can't know beforehand if a certain property is applied to the default tag. So the onus can't be on it.

(...) or choose a more appropriate HTML tag which does not carry the same styling implications.

If you have a list of things you should use the semantic tag on it. We should not resort to this kind of change just to avoid problems with styles.

Both <ul> and <ol> are particular cases, because they are commonly used for lots of things besides displaying a simple list of text items, so this block should be treated differently.

[strarsis]

@MichaelCampanella: Also, using :not([class]) can cause new issues, as when a typographically used list gets additional classes assigned, e.g. for color or font-size, or a block style class that should just extend a small aspect of it on top of the base styles.

Maybe add typographic class to all blocks that are used in a typographical context, semantically, navigation and normal lists are the same, but not in their purpose.

[mtias]

Seems we should add standard block classes to a few of the elements we have left without.

[skorasaurus]

NB. For those still struggling with this, until this is added / solved.

Adding a style to the list block generates the 'is-style-default' class to the unstyled list. For now, i've found this is the easiest way to solve the problem of splitting CSS code for generic ul applications like menu, gallery etc, in my custom theme. Since lists are quite often styled with a block-style in practice, this is the least painful to implement.

Interestingly, for me, this is not the case.. When I registered a new block style for the core list block (via registerBlockStyle; I omitted the isDefault value), the class name wp-block-list is applied to all newly created list blocks; even those that do not use my newly registered block style .

[alexandrebuffet]

Block style do not seem to be the best solution. Adding a style to the list block (even with is_default/isDefault) does not generate the "is-style-default" parameter until the user has selected the style in the interface... See #38890.

Now that the decision has been made to add support for class name on "Heading" blocks. Can we consider the same support for "List" blocks until we develop a better solution to not saving className in the markup? @adamziel has correctly stated the problem and @andrewserong seems to validate the idea here: #42122.

[pagelab]

Can we consider the same support for "List" blocks

@alexandrebuffet This is being discussed at #42269.

[carolinan]

Can we resurrect this?
When the new per block custom CSS is used with the list block, it affects all lists.

[RavanH]

Please resurrect.

It also affects Navigation block submenus with a custom background color. See #50342

[mrwweb]

Here's a PHP polyfill for doing this if it's useful to anyone:

add_filter( 'render_block', __NAMESPACE__ . '\add_class_to_list_block', 10, 2 );
/**
 * Polyfill wp-block-list class on list blocks
 *
 * Should not be necessary in future version of WP
 *
 * @see https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/12420
 * @see https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/42269
 */
function add_class_to_list_block( $block_content, $block ) {

	if ( 'core/list' === $block['blockName'] ) {
		$block_content = new WP_HTML_Tag_Processor( $block_content );
		$block_content->next_tag(); /* first tag should always be ul or ol */
		$block_content->add_class( 'wp-block-list' );
		$block_content->get_updated_html();
	}

	return $block_content;
}

This requires WordPress 6.2 which included the new WP_HTML_Tag_Processor class.

[strarsis]

@mrwweb: The inclusion of WP_HTML_Tag_Processor is great, finally an external HTML5 parser library can be skipped.

[talldan]

I noticed there's also #50486, which might be a duplicate of this. It has quite a lot of detail on it.

[shaunjc]

This still seems to be a major issue when developing block themes, as setting any of the default styling or setting custom CSS via Styles > Blocks > List will create CSS rules for ul, ol, affecting all manner of other blocks, such as latest posts, query loop and navigation blocks.

The polyfill above currently only works at putting a class name into the markup. If we want to use the same class name in our CSS, we either need to use the Styles > Additional CSS or find another way to populate the styles.

With that in mind, I registered a second filter that replaces the selector with my own custom classes, and it seems to work well for me so far.

add_filter( 'register_block_type_args', function( $args, $block_name ) {
	switch ( $block_name ) {
		case 'core/list':
			$args['supports']['__experimentalSelector'] = 'ol.wp-block-list,ul.wp-block-list';
			break;
	}
	return $args;
}, 10, 2 );

Of course, given that it has "experimental" in the name, I assume that this may change in future. Setting a default class name for this block in core would be the best way to move forward.

[tellthemachines]

Given the way that global styles can now be defined on blocks, attaching classes only on the server side doesn't seem like a viable approach any longer. We need to be able to attach List block-specific styles to a classname that works in both the editor and the front end.

[onetrev]

What about adding className support as demonstrated in the Block Filters docs? It seems to work well on a new site, but it will result in "This block contains unexpected or invalid content" if added to a site with existing lists. So still not perfect.

[carolinan]

@priethor @mtias Hi
There are two suggestions for changing the approach on how to add the wp-block class name to the list block.

One is to use the class in both the editors and front:

Given the way that global styles can now be defined on blocks, attaching classes only on the server side doesn't seem like a viable approach any longer. We need to be able to attach List block-specific styles to a classname that works in both the editor and the front end.

The other is to also add a class on the inner list item block:

Question? Seeing the amount of work it takes to add a class name to a block, wouldn't it make sense to use this oportunity when we are already chaging the selector that is used for the list item block so also just add the class wp-block-list-item to the list item block?

Given the previous discussion and change requests from @mtias, how do you propose that we move forward with the issue?

[carolinan]

How can we move this forward?

[youknowriad]

Given the way that global styles can now be defined on blocks, attaching classes only on the server side doesn't seem like a viable approach any longer. We need to be able to attach List block-specific styles to a classname that works in both the editor and the front end.

I think @mtias's idea was to add it to both the frontend and the editor but to not serialize it in the saved markup. I think it's a given that the markup of the editor should match the frontend.

[carolinan]

I am going to need more context because when I apply the PR the class is in all editors and the front...