Using Font Awesome icon for bullet points, with a single list item element

Question

Solution:

http://jsfiddle.net/VR2hP/

ul li:before {    
    font-family: 'FontAwesome';
    content: '\f067';
    margin:0 5px 0 -15px;
    color: #f00;
}

Here's a blog post which explains this technique in-depth.

The new fontawesome (version 4.0.3) makes this really easy to do. We simply use the following classes:

<ul class="fa-ul">
  <li><i class="fa-li fa fa-check-square"></i>List icons (like these)</li>
  <li><i class="fa-li fa fa-check-square"></i>can be used</li>
  <li><i class="fa-li fa fa-spinner fa-spin"></i>to replace</li>
  <li><i class="fa-li fa fa-square"></i>default bullets in lists</li>
</ul>

As per this (new) url: http://fontawesome.io/examples/#list

I'd like to build upon some of the answers above and given elsewhere and suggest using absolute positioning along with the :before pseudo class. A lot of the examples above (and in similar questions) are utilizing custom HTML markup, including Font Awesome's method of handling. This goes against the original question, and isn't strictly necessary.

DEMO HERE

ul {
  list-style-type: none;
  padding-left: 20px;
}

li {
  position: relative;
  padding-left: 20px;
  margin-bottom: 10px
}

li:before {
  position: absolute;
  top: 0;
  left: 0;
  font-family: FontAwesome;
  content: "\f058";
  color: green;
}

That's basically it. You can get the ISO value for use in CSS content on the Font Awesome cheatsheet. Simply use the last 4 alphanumerics prefixed with a backslash. So [] becomes \f058

There's an example of how to use Font Awesome alongside an unordered list on their examples page.

<ul class="icons">
  <li><i class="icon-ok"></i> Lists</li>
  <li><i class="icon-ok"></i> Buttons</li>
  <li><i class="icon-ok"></i> Button groups</li>
  <li><i class="icon-ok"></i> Navigation</li>
  <li><i class="icon-ok"></i> Prepended form inputs</li>
</ul>

If you can't find it working after trying this code then you're not including the library correctly. According to their website, you should include the libraries as such:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="../css/bootstrap.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="../css/font-awesome.css">

Also check out the whimsical Chris Coyier's post on icon fonts on his website CSS Tricks.

Here's a screencast by him as well talking about how to create your own icon font-face.

@Tama, you may want to check this answer: Using Font Awesome icons as bullets

Basically you can accomplish this by using only CSS without the need for the extra markup as suggested by FontAwesome and the other answers here.

In other words, you can accomplish what you need using the same basic markup you mentioned in your initial post:

<ul>
  <li>...</li>
  <li>...</li>
  <li>...</li>
</ul>

Thanks.

In Font Awesome 5 it can be done using pure CSS as in some of the above answers with some modifications.

ul {
  list-style-type: none;
}

li:before {
  position: absolute;
  font-family: 'Font Awesome 5 free';
          /*  Use the Name of the Font Awesome free font, e.g.:
           - 'Font Awesome 5 Free' for Regular and Solid symbols;
           - 'Font Awesome 5 Brand' for Brands symbols.
           - 'Font Awesome 5 Pro' for Regular and Solid symbols (Professional License);
          */
  content: "\f1fc"; /* Unicode value of the icon to use: */
  font-weight: 900; /* This is important, change the value according to the font family name
                       used above. See the link below  */
  color: red;
}

Without the correct font-weight, it will only show a blank square.

https://fontawesome.com/how-to-use/on-the-web/advanced/css-pseudo-elements#define