I don’t have to use a lot of HTML these days, but it’s always helpful to know how to manipulate it if you need it. In my last post, I had a list of 10 podcasts that I listen to. That list was divided into three different sections. The problem with doing it that way is that you can’t keep your list continuing on to the next number after the heading. By default, the list will restart at one once the list has been “broken.”

As you can see in the included image, I was able to keep the numbering going, even though there is a heading in between parts of the list. This isn’t magic, it’s some basic HTML that took a matter of seconds to put in and keeps my post much more clear.

How to do it

The first thing you need to do is create your list. WordPress makes this easy. Start off by clicking the ordered list button (the list with the numbers). Add in your content, headings, and anything else you might need. Then change your view style from Visual to Text. This will allow you to edit the HTML.

Once you are in the HTML you want to find the code < ol >.

The OL stands for ordered list. Fun fact, if you wanted a bulleted list, you would put in “ul” for unordered list. From there you want to put the following code after the “ol” =start”number”. The number will be whatever you want the list to start at.

Uses

This is useful for examples such as the one given above or anytime you need your list to not start at 1.

Process review

In the image below you will see all of the steps necessary to change the ordering in your list inside of WordPress and any HTML page.