right-align numbers using p. and autonumber

[mattbnh]

I am trying to create equivalent styles to the StepFirst and StepNext in our Framemaker templates.

I am just about there, but it seems that if I create these as p.StepFirst and p.StepNext, the numbers are left aligned rather than right-aligned by default as in the li classes.
ie:

1.
2.
...
10.
11.

Instead of
1.
2.
...
10.
11.

I have tried a bundle of different settings and read through hundreds of forum posts.
The only thing close I found was someone who wanted the opposite - li. styles that aligned the numbers to the left!

I am sure this is something simple, but nothing I tried has worked.

BTW - When I tried doing this in an li style, I ended up with doubled numbers - it autonumbered the autonumbered list:
1. 1. text
2. 2. text

[LTinker68]

You examples didn't come through. It's hard to get it to line up exactly in the forum. But you're saying you want it to align on the period after the number and not the left edge of the number itself?

[trent the thief]

The infamous decimal tab

[LTinker68]

Create a custom <ol> class and set the list-style-type property to "decimal". In the topic, create a numbered list (click the list icon and select numbered from the drop-down list). With the show blocks enabled, right-click on the <ol> tag on the left of the XML Editor, go to Style Class, then select the custom <ol> class. All of the line items in that list will be aligned on the decimal point. You can adjust the margin-left value of the <ol> tag if you want the whole list indented a bit more.

I tested this in IE6 and FF, but I didn't test it in print output. Word may not recognize the decimal alignment, so you might have to do some post-editing on the Word output to get the list to align correctly. You'll have to test it.

[mattbnh]

Thanks Lisa, I have not seen a better way.

To cut to the chase, at this point I would like opinions from those with more extensive time as forum-inmates than I:

Should the inability to import Frame autonumbered paragraphs as decimal-aligned be submitted as a bug or a feature request?

Or has it already been submitted, to your knowledge?

Or does this capability work in Flare 4?

(I can't upgrade to test this myself yet because my 4 license is being held hostage by a peer group member who is emailed the licenses and has yet to share them.)

If you care, my justification for feeling this is an issue is below.

What I am trying to do is handle round-tripping between Frame and Flare with the least possible retagging.
The way I did it was almost precisely what Sharon Burton suggested as a best practice in her white paper (frametoblazebestpracticesdraft441.pdf on her blog), but her examples are numbered only in single digits, masking this complication.

(Please don't tell me "Best Practice: Prohibit steps > 10" - just not practical with the stuff we are documenting.)

As a test, I ran the most vanilla Frame import I could devise, mapping no paragraph styles.
Flare created the same CSS code for this whether I mapped or not.
And that code results in left-justified numbering.
To me, that is an importing mismatch from the Framemaker style definition for this element.
Admittedly, the problem is in trying to import a source in which numbering is defined counter to what XML and CSS support.
I guess, as Trent kinda sorta implied, I am asking for a CSS setting that does not exist.
What is annoying is that standard <ol> and <li> does this inherently.
If Flare's Frame importer had a way to parse the frame file and say "Ahah! I found something that should translate to an <ol>, and tag it that way, all would be fine.

But I don't see it in the importer.
If I were a righteous PERL dude with time on my hands, I could probably script this post-import, but that is not on my C.V., my job description, or my calendar, and it wouldn't help any other Flare customers.

This is not a show stopper - we are going to move content from Frame to Flare and back even if we do or don't decide to use Flare for both print and online.

But having this work would be another feather in the Madcap for the Frame customers they are trying to attract to Flare.

Please feel free to disagree and put me in my place.

[trent the thief]

I'd submit is as a feature request since it is probably missing through oversight by a group of webheads rather than by a hardcore framer who lives and breathes page layout.

I'll tell ya, if I owned FrameMaker, there'd be some darned big bunch of developers loose on the street with tin cups.

When Frame Technology owned it, they'd listen to the users. Macrobe is worthless in that regard, which is one major reason I like Flare so much. When a product's developers are divorced from the reality, or at least from any shared reality with their userbase, the product ends up sucking canal water.

I've talked to MadCap developer's a few times. They fix things and make them better. There are a couple changes in Flare that I instigated. Flare is becoming my primary publishing tool, with Framemaker dragging behind.

[bonnie]

Create a custom <ol> class and set the list-style-type property to "decimal". In the topic, create a numbered list (click the list icon and select numbered from the drop-down list). With the show blocks enabled, right-click on the <ol> tag on the left of the XML Editor, go to Style Class, then select the custom <ol> class. All of the line items in that list will be aligned on the decimal point. You can adjust the margin-left value of the <ol> tag if you want the whole list indented a bit more.

I tested this, but it doesn't transfer over to FrameMaker output (in Flare 4.0).

I have also tried to use autonumbering for FrameMaker output, but the mc-auto-number-offset doesn't work for FrameMaker output (neither in Flare 3.1 nor in Flare 4.0). I submitted that as a bug for 3.1 not too long ago. For more about that, see this thread:

http://forums.madcapsoftware.com/viewto ... =22&t=6785

Bonnie

[NorthEast]

Yep, if you're working with content that's come from (or going to) FrameMaker, you'll need to use autonumber formats for your lists. Flare can't map between FM list styles and regular HTML lists (i.e. using the ol and li tags), you would map them to paragraph styles with autonumber formats.

Also, setting the list style property to 'decimal' is a red-herring. This property just tells the browser to display the list with decimal numbers - i.e. 1,2,3 - and it isn't related to their alignment/decimal tabs. I'm not aware of a way to specify the alignment of list numbers by their decimal point.

[trent the thief]

Yep, if you're working with content that's come from (or going to) FrameMaker, you'll need to use autonumber formats for your lists. Flare can't map between FM list styles and regular HTML lists (i.e. using the ol and li tags), you would map them to paragraph styles with autonumber formats.

Also, setting the list style property to 'decimal' is a red-herring. This property just tells the browser to display the list with decimal numbers - i.e. 1,2,3 - and it isn't related to their alignment/decimal tabs. I'm not aware of a way to specify the alignment of list numbers by their decimal point.

It's unfortunate that Flare can't replicate this autonumber format: \t<+1>.\t as it is often used in technical publishing. But since html doesn't support tabs, per se, I can only see a two column table as a resolution. Not very elegant and requiring too much manual tinkering.