Basic linked lists
A list view is coded as a simple unordered list containing linked list items with a data-role="listview" attribute. jQuery Mobile will apply all the necessary styles to transform the list into a mobile-friendly list view with right arrow indicator that fills the full width of the browser window. When you tap on the list item, the framework will trigger a click on the first link inside the list item, issue an AJAX request for the URL in the link, create the new page in the DOM, then kick off a page transition. Here is the HTML markup for a basic linked list.
<ul data-role="listview" data-theme="g">
<li><a href="acura.html">Acura</a></li>
<li><a href="audi.html">Audi</a></li>
<li><a href="bmw.html">BMW</a></li>
</ul>
Nested lists
By nesting child ul of ol inside list items, you can create nested lists. When a list item with a child list is clicked, the framework will generate a new ui-page populated with the title of the parent in the header and the list of child elements. These dynamic nested lists are styled with the "b" theme swatch (blue in the default theme) to indicate that you are in a secondary level of navigation. Lists can be nested multiple level deep and all pages and linking will be automatically handled by the framework.
To set the swatch color of the child list views, data-theme attribute on each list inside.
Numbered lists
Lists can also be created from ordered lists (ol) which is useful when presented items that are in a sequence such as search results or a movie queue. When the enhanced markup is applied to the list view, jQuery Mobile will try to first use CSS to add numbers to the list and, if not supported, will fall back to injecting numbers with JavaScript.
Read-only lists
List views can also be used to display a non-interactive list of items, usually as an inset list. This list is built from an unordered or ordered list that don't have linked list items. The framework defaults to styling these list with the "c" theme swatch (flat white in the default theme) and sets the text size to a smaller size than the clickable lists to save a bit of space.
Read-only list exampleSplit button lists
In cases where there is more than one possible action per list item, a split button can be used to offer two independently clickable items -- the list item and a small arrow icon in the far right. To make a split list item, simply add a second link inside the li and the framework will add a vertical divider line, style the link as an icon-only arrow button, and sets the title attribute of the link to the text the link for accessibility. You can set the icon for the right icon by specifying a data-icon attribute with the icon name you want.
List dividers
List items can be turned into dividers to organize and group the list items. This is done by adding the data-role="list-divider" to any list item. These items are styled with the body swatch "b" by default (light gray in the default theme) but you can specify a theme for dividers by adding the data-groupingtheme attribute and specifying a theme swatch letter.
Search filter
jQuery Mobile provides a very easy way to filter a list with a simple client-side search feature. To make a list filterable, simply add the data-filter="true" attribute to the list. The framework will then append a search box above the list and add the behavior to filter out list items that don't contain the current search string as the user types.
Text formatting & counts
The framework includes text formatting conventions for common list patterns like header/descriptions, secondary information, counts through HTML semantic markup.
- To add a count indicator to the right of the list item, wrap the number in an element with a class of
ui-li-count - To add text hierarchy, use headings to increase font emphasis and use paragraphs to reduce emphasis.
- Supplemental information can be added to the right of each list item by wrapping content in an element with a class of
ui-li-aside
Thumbnails & icons
To add thumbnails to the left of a list item, simply add an image inside a list item as the first child element. The framework will scale the image to 80 pixels square. To use standard 16x16 pixel icons in list items, add the class of ui-li-icon to the image element to size.
Inset lists
If lists are embedded in a page with other types of content, an inset list packages the list into a block that sits inside the content area with a bit of margin and rounded corners (theme controlled). By adding the data-inset="true" attribute to the list (ul or ol), applies the inset appearance.