How to add brackets (a) to ordered list? compatible in all browsers

Question

I have to show like

(a)

(b)

(c)

Update:

I found a CSS way

ol {list-style-type: none;}
li:before {content: "(" counter(section, lower-alpha) ") ";}
li { counter-increment: section;}

but it not works in IE 7 and lower.

Answer 1

This is possible with custom counters, but at least IE7- doesn't support it, some others mightn't either. See here for details: http://www.quirksmode.org/css/counter.html

Ex:

li:before {
    content: "(" counter(mycounter,lower-latin) ")";
}

Answer 2

I use this code snippet in mediawiki with CSS enabled. I am not sure whether this will work in older versions of IE...

<style>
    /* css handles the parentheses/brackets */
    .laparent ol { counter-reset: item }
    .laparent li { display: block ; counter-increment: item; }
    /* replace the counter before list item with
              open parenthesis + counter + close parenthesis */
    .laparent li:before { content: " (" counter(item,lower-alpha) ") "; }
</style>
<ol class="laparent">
    <li> this is the first item; </li>
    <li> this is the second item; or </li>
    <li> this is the third item. </li>
</ol>

Outputs:

(a) this is the first item;
(b) this is the second item; or
(c) this is the third item.