Better ways to handle lists

[Sean]

Hi,

How do you guys handle nested lists with non-list elements interrupting.

I am selecting <p> elements and using the list button to select bullet or numbered list, and type of list, such as lowercase alpha or circle bullets. I found the right-click continue numbering selection.

I found that if I select a large number of items and make them a list, then I could select a subset, use the indent button, and then assign a new number style to the subset.

So, this works well:

1 Item
2 Item
3 Item
4 subitem
5 Subitem
6 subitem
7 subsubitem
8 Subsubitem
9 Subitem

becomes

1 Item
2 Item
3 Item
a subitem
b Subitem
c subitem
- subsubitem
- Subsubitem
4 Subitem

My problem arises when I have images or notes inbetween, because continuing the numbering does not work across these elements.

I have taken to using text view and nesting an ol inside an ol and restaring the numbering at a set value. (I can explain if that doesn't make sense). I don't like this method, because it's hand coding.

So, in the trenches, how do you deal with this? Best practices?



Cheers,

Sean

[Nita Beck]

Sorry in advance for being very brief...

You'll find techniques discussed in MadCap's blog (http://www.madcapsoftware.com/blog/2017 ... cap-flare/) and Flare's Help (http://help.madcapsoftware.com/flare201 ... -Items.htm).

HTH

[devjoe]

If the numbering should be continued, then the interrupting item is properly part of one of the list items.
If you make the list item a paragraph item (right-click the structure bar and select Make Paragraph Item), then you can put multiple paragraphs, tables, etc. inside one list item. Drag the intervening item to the end ofthe existing list item and it should drop inside. Then you can join the following list to the preceding one.

This will cause the interrupting item to be indented as part of the list item. It is also possible that this will reveal inadequacies in your style sheet. (Generally speaking, if you have margins or padding set on your p tag, you need to make a complex selector that turns those off when the p tag is inside a list item or else the paragraph list items will look different from the simple list items.)

Alternatively, if you do not want that indentation, you can simply set the starting number on the list which follows the interruption. This will need to be manually reset if you change the number of items in the first part. This might be complicated if the intervening item occurs within a sublist, say, between b and c in your example, and perhaps this is what you are doing now and having difficulty with.

As yet another alternative, there are people who use Flare's autonumbered paragraphs instead of HTML lists. This would completely change your workflow and require complicated setup for your nested lists, so I do not recommend it. You can find other threads as well as the help which explains how to use these.

[Sean]

Good thoughts and links. Thanks!