Hi Roger:
This responds to article
from "Roger said:
What would be recommended for an outline numbering scheme where
paragraphs in between headings were also required to be numbered (say
something like the example below)?
1. Heading (level 1)
1A Sub heading (level 2)
1Aa numbered list item or paragraph (level 3)
1Ab numbered list item or paragraph (level 3)
1B Sub heading (level 2)
1Ba numbered list item or paragraph (level 3)
1Bb Sub sub heading (level 3)
1Bb.i numbered list item or paragraph (level 4)
1Bb.ii numbered list item or paragraph (level 4)
2. Heading (level 1)
and of course it could go on to deeper levels
You MUST have "a" style for each level of numbering. Use a single Outline
List Template associated with nine different styles.
I have found it possible to use /a/ (not /the/) "List Number" style and
to associate each level of that style with a user style. But is this
best recommended practice?
You have misdescribed the mechanism. The List Template has nine levels. A
"style" can have only one. So you cannot associate a style with more than
one level of a list template (you used to be able to: instant corrupt
document, but they fixed that).
NB List Number does not work quite like Heading 1-9 and straight use of
"List Number" imposes the same style info (font, para etc) on each
level.
That's correct. A style has only one level. A list template has one level
or nine, depending on whether it is a single-level list or an outline list.
Style "List Number" is quite independent of "List Number 2", "List
Number 3" etc (so these could be used if more than one numbered list
style was required in a document I think, although hopefully not in an
intermixed mess!)
By default in a document or template, those styles are independent. That's
a bug: they are not supposed to be. Follow Shauna's or my instructions for
associating them with each other correctly before you begin to try to use
them. You should set each member of the hierarchy to be "Based On" the
style above it, except for the one at the top of the hierarchy, which MUST
be "based on" 'no style'. A serious and yawning trap for young players is
to base a style on another style that has numbering defined. If you do
that, you *will* live in interesting times, because this associates one
level of that list with this style. Not good.
In List Number-level 1 the associated style seems to be unalterable at
"List Number"
but at level 2 a user style (say "mystyle 2") can be associated
and similarly "mystyle 3" at level 3, "mystyle 4" at level 4 etc.
Yes, you're catching on. What you are supposed to do is associate List
Number 1 through List Number 9 with all nine levels of the list template.
In a later version of Word, you will find pre-built List Styles which have
this association correctly defined. List Styles are arriving in the next
version of Word.
But this is not as simple nor as obvious to use as Heading 1-9
Which is why I suggest that you use Heading 1 through Heading 9 for the
purpose.
When you apply the Heading 3 style, Word makes the paragraph you apply the
style to a member of the Heading outline. It then applies the level 3
properties of that outline to the paragraph, and then applies the properties
of the Heading 3 paragraph style to the paragraph. What you get is that
paragraph becomes a level 3 member of the Heading list.
That's the way it's supposed to work, and if you stick with the Heading
styles and the Heading outline lists, it will all work correctly. If you
want to make your own, you can, but you then need to put some serious work
and study into the whole mechanism, and you need to create a set of styles
and a list template and ensure that the properties and definitions that you
assign are all completely consistent throughout the whole series.
Believe it or not, this is not particularly difficult once you understand
the whole mechanism thoroughly, and I do it all the time for special
effects. I just don't talk about it much in here because it does get very
involved.
However, amongst the MVPs we all have specialties: and Numbering and Long
Documents happen to be mine. So if you are determined to push the
boundaries, let's get into it: I love this stuff
Any comments or (better) recommendations please?
You "can" do anything you wish with Word's numbering: it is more flexible
than Frame Maker's. However, with that flexibility comes great complexity.
Let me make some points that you probably already understand: if not, look
these up because they are the key to it.
* Word is an object-oriented application. It does not work by "commands".
There is no "formatting" in the text of a Word document.
* An object is any kind of "thing". In Word the most prevalent and
important object is the paragraph. Objects have "properties" and
"behaviours". The behaviour is something that kind of object always does;
for example, a paragraph always takes up some space on the page. Properties
are what determine 'how much' of a given behaviour an object exhibits. For
example the Space Before and Space After properties determine the spacing
before or after a paragraph.
* Several kinds of object can have "Styles". A style is simply a named
collection of properties. Internally, it's a row in a table of numbers: the
numbers are the values of the properties. A paragraph contains a single
integer that nominates which row of the style table should be used when
formatting that paragraph. You won't find any formatting in the text of a
Word document paragraph: simple a number that tells Word where to look up
the formatting.
Now, here's where we get the problem. In my mind, this is what they did
wrong: In Word, "Numbering" is not "part" of a style. It is a different
object. Internally it is very similar to a style, and it has many of the
same properties. It behaves a bit like a style. But we have to introduce
two new concepts: the "List" and the "List Template". A "List" is a
collection of paragraphs. A List Template is the numbering definition that
contains the properties and formatting of the list. An Outline List
Template is, in turn, a special case of List Template: one that has child
elements. And Bullets are simply a special case of numbering list template:
one in which the numbers do not increment...
The reason they did it this way was to cater for the lawyers in the Fortune
500 companies, who want to apply numbering independently of the style.
Lawyers have never understood or used styles: in a legal document,
everything will be set in Normal style. And in a legal document, the
formatting of the text and the numbering are not related. But for the rest
of us, it has resulted in the most unholy mess, and I think Microsoft now
deeply regrets designing it this way. I digress...
* So a given sequence of paragraphs must have a style. If it has no other
style, it has Normal style. A paragraph can not have "no style": the space
in the paragraph where the style link integer goes can not be blank because
Word requires it to identify the end of the paragraph.
* A sequence of paragraphs may or may not have numbering. If it has, the
numbering may have been applied directly, independently of the style. Or it
may have been applied by the style. Remember, a style can have a link that
"calls in" or "associates" a list template with the paragraph, and so makes
the paragraph a member of that list. Just to confuse things further, the
List Template may apply styles: an OUTLINE List Template has links in which
you can associate each level with a style. If you do, that style will be
applied to any text you apply the list template to.
I told you all this so I could point out one complex but deadly mistake I
have made a few times in defining list templates manually: if a style points
to a given list template, but in a different list template one or more
levels point to that same style, all hell breaks loose
This is not
goodness. It is an important reason why I would say "Come up with a
specific reason why customising Heading 1 through Heading 9 won't work for
you before being tempted to define your own.
There are an awful lot of things you have to get right if you are going to
do it manually. I generally don't. I have a macro that sets them up for
me: too many things to think about otherwise: it's a job best left to a
computer
Hope this helps
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John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. GMT + 10 Hrs
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:
[email protected]