The Scenario
You have an HTML document that includes ordered lists interspersed with other content. The ordered list items must be numbered continuously throughout the document (not restarting at number 1 each time an ordered list is used).
The simplest way to achieve this is using the “start” attribute: <ol start="4" type="1">. However, you may also want to use an XHTML1.0 Strict or HTML4.01 Strict doctype.
Problem
The “start” and “type” attributes are not allowed in XHTML1.0 Strict or HTML4.0 Strict documents. These attributes ARE allowed if XHTML1.0 Transitional or HTML4.01 Transitional are used.