How to set the width of a list, in css

Question

I have the code, as below. It's a bit annoying to have the text not align (it affects other li elements). How can I make it a fixed-width? I've tried width=XYZpx but that did nothing.

<li class="date">2/28/2010 9:37:38 AM</li>
...
<li class="date">3/1/2010 9:37:38 AM</li>

css

li.date
{ 
  background : url(/icons/date.png) no-repeat left top;
}

Answer 1

I can't quite work through your grammar, but I think all you want is this, right?

li.date
{
  background : url(/icons/date.png) no-repeat left top;
  width: 200px; /* or whatever */
}

Answer 2

I think you need to set the width of the list for the <ul> element instead of the <li> element. If the list is contained inside of a <div>, you could set the width of the <div> instead of the <ul>, I believe.

ul {
   width: 125px;
}