Custom li list-style with font-awesome icon

Question

I am wondering if it's possible to utilize font-awesome (or any other iconic font) classes to create a custom <li> list-style-type?

I am currently using jQuery to do this, ie:

$("li.myClass").prepend("<i class=\"icon-chevron-right\"></i>");

However, this doesn't style properly when the <li> text wraps across the page as it considers the icon to be part of the text, not the actual bullet-indicator.

Any tips?

Answer 1

The CSS Lists and Counters Module Level 3 introduces the ::marker pseudo-element. From what I've understood it would allow such a thing. Unfortunately, no browser seems to support it.

What you can do is add some padding to the parent ul and pull the icon into that padding:

ul {
  list-style: none;
  padding: 0;
}
li {
  padding-left: 1.3em;
}
li:before {
  content: "\f00c"; /* FontAwesome Unicode */
  font-family: FontAwesome;
  display: inline-block;
  margin-left: -1.3em; /* same as padding-left set on li */
  width: 1.3em; /* same as padding-left set on li */
}

<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/font-awesome/4.5.0/css/font-awesome.min.css">
<ul>
  <li>Item one</li>
  <li>Item two</li>
</ul>

Adjust the padding/font-size/etc to your liking, and that's it.

You could and should also put the spacing unit in a css variable instead of repeating it throughout the code.

=====

This works with any type of iconic font. FontAwesome, however, provides their own way to deal with this 'problem'. Check out Darrrrrren's answer below for more details.

Answer 2

As per the Font Awesome Documentation:

<ul class="fa-ul">
  <li><i class="fa-li fa fa-check"></i>Barbabella</li>
  <li><i class="fa-li fa fa-check"></i>Barbaletta</li>
  <li><i class="fa-li fa fa-check"></i>Barbalala</li>
</ul>

Or, using Jade:

ul.fa-ul
  li
    i.fa-li.fa.fa-check
    | Barbabella
  li
    i.fa-li.fa.fa-check
    | Barbaletta
  li
    i.fa-li.fa.fa-check
    | Barbalala