Re: [libreoffice-users] A (sane) way of doing bullets and numbering

On 09/02/13 16:34, Dan Lewis wrote:
> On 02/08/2013 08:02 AM, sun shine wrote:
> > Hi list
> >
> > One of the biggest (personal) bugbears I have with LibO (and OOo 
> > before this) is the issue of numbering and bulleting. It just seems 
> > counter-intuitive to me and is one of the very few areas where I 
> > think that MS has a better approach.
> >
> > I have a numbered list in a table and now I want sub-numbers, such as:
> >
> > 1. text text text text text
> >     1.1. text text text text
> >     1.2. text text text text
> > 2. text text text text text
> >
> > However two things happen:
> > (1) I have to manually play around with the sub-number positions so 
> > that there isn't (a) a large tab space between the number and the 
> > start of the text and (b) the sub-number is aligned reasonably close 
> > to the main number; and
> > (2) the text of the sub-number (e.g. 1.1.) does not align itself to 
> > where the text for that sub-number starts. Instead, it goes all the 
> > way to align with the main number (e.g. 1.).
> >
> > This is difficult to reproduce using the email but basically it looks 
> > really sloppy, and I don't know how to set it up so that the numbers 
> > and sub-numbers and the associated text align in blocks.
> >
> > I think that there is something I might be able to do with a style 
> > page - but that seems like a lot of work just to get some numbers 
> > aligned.
> >
> > Any ideas/ suggestions?
> >
> > Thanks
>      You are using a numbering style in the Styles and Formatting 
> window (List styles)? It appears so, because I don't know how to use 
> sub-numbers without using this style.
>      There are three values that determine where numbering and text 
> appears on a given line of the list:  the distance from the beginning 
> of numbering to the beginning of text,where the numbering begins, and 
> where additional lines for a given sub-number begin.
>      These are controlled in the Position page (tab) of the numbering 
> style you are using. It should be easier to enter values in the 
> following order: "Aligned at", Numbering followed by", and "Indent 
> at". In fact in my experience, "Numbering followed by" and "Indent at" 
> are usually the same value. This way the text in succeeding lines line 
> up with the text of the top line for a given number or sub-number.
>      "Aligned at": This is where the numbering begins. For the top 
> level of the list, use this to determine how much of an indent the 
> entire list will have. For the each of the succeeding levels, use the 
> same value as you used in "Numbering followed by" in the level above it.
>      "Numbering followed by" and "Indent at" are very similar. Both 
> are the positions for text. "Numbering followed by" is where text 
> begins on the first line for a given number or sub-number. "Indent at" 
> is where the text begins on the succeeding lines. (You are having 
> problems with both of these.)
>      Of these two, "Numbering followed by" is the more important. That 
> is because you need to be concerned with the difference between 
> "Numbering followed by" and "Aligned at". This difference is the 
> length available for the number or sub-number. If either is longer 
> than the allowed length, Writer begins the text at the next tab stop 
> producing the wide tab space you notice. The default value in 
> Numbering 1 list style for "Numbering followed by" is 0.5" and the 
> "Aligned at" 0.25". The difference is 0.25". For the LibreOffice 
> documents "Numbering followed by" is 0.51" and the "Aligned at" 0.39". 
> the difference is 0.12". The reason for the slight difference is 
> documentation tends to have longer numbers and sub-numbers (especially 
> the latter).
>      Here are some suggested steps that might help:
> 1.) For level 1, set "Aligned at" with what you want the left side of 
> the list to be. Set the "Numbering followed followed by" next. Just 
> make sure the difference between these two is greater than the longest 
> level one number. Now set "Indent at" to be the same as "Numbering 
> followed by".
>
> 2.) For level 2 and beyond: Set "Aligned at" to be the same as 
> "Numbering followed by" of the level above it. Set "Numbering followed 
> by" to be greater than the longest sub-number for this level. Set 
> "Aligned at" to equal "Numbering followed by".
>
>      One additional point. You probably want the difference between 
> "Numbering followed by" and "Aligned by" to be the same for all 
> levels. If this is the case, you need to determine what will be the 
> largest of these values. Then use this to determine what each of the 
> "Numbering followed by" should be.
>
> --Dan
Thanks Dan. I really do appreciate your input and will apply that for 
the next time this issue applies. I must say though,  that this solution 
you have suggested seems unnecessarily complicated. Surely there must be 
an easier way in terms of time and code optimisation?

--
For unsubscribe instructions e-mail to: users+help@global.libreoffice.org
Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/
Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette
List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/
All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted