Css Nested Lists Items And Alternate Background

I am searching for a way to have list items have alternating background colors. When there is a nested list the items keep alternating but the child is indented without having the

Solution 1:

Here is one potential solution: https://jsfiddle.net/qmdwpzt8/3/

Not sure if all your requirements will be met by it, but I updated your list with div's:

<ul>
    <li><div>Item 1</div>
        <ul>
            <li><div>Item 1-1</div></li>
            <li><div>Item 1-2</div>
                <ul>
                    <li><div>Item 1-2-1</div></li>
                    <li><div>Item 1-2-2</div></li>
                </ul>
            </li>
            <li><div>Item 1-3</div></li>
        </ul>
    </li>
    <li><div>Item 2</div>
        <ul>
            <li><div>Item 2-1</div>
                <ul>
                    <li><div>Item 2-1-1</div></li>
                </ul>
            </li>
        </ul>    
    </li>
    <li><div>Item 3</div></li>
    <li><div>Item 4</div></li>
</ul>

And then add background colors with jQuery:

$( document ).ready(function() {
    var b = true;
    $( "div" ).each(function( index ) {
        b = !b;
        if (b) {
            $(this).css("background-color", "#ff0000");
        } else {
            $(this).css("background-color", "#00ff00");
        }            
    });
});

This does depend on jQuery/Javascript.