Help Files for Bullets & Numbering are Unclear & Unhelpful

[Mark Oehlschlager]

I have read through both help file pages on Bullets and Numbering very carefully, and I must say that the information is incomplete and unclear.

Please review these Help file pages from the perspective of a new user and rewrite the instructions with illustrations for absolute clarity. 

It would also be worthwhile to add a tutorial video demonstrating how to use and configure custom Bullets and Numbering styles and settings.

 

[garrettm30]

19 hours ago, Mark Oehlschlager said:

It would also be worthwhile to add a tutorial video demonstrating how to use and configure custom Bullets and Numbering styles and settings.

Have you already tried this video? It seems to be just the thing.

https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/tutorials/publisher/desktop/video/337313778/

[Mark Oehlschlager]

@garrettm30

Thank you for that link. That's definitely a start. 

Even this video doesn't explain everything, and the presenter seems a bit unsure about what everything does.

• Through trial and error, I believe I've discovered that the "Tabstop" field in the B&N sub-panel controls any tab inserted between a bullet or number and the following text. This is unrelated to the settings in the Tab Spaces and the Spacing sub panels.
• I still have no idea what the left-, center-, and right-alignment buttons control.
• Proper use of the "Level" field needs to be demonstrated. It's not clear.
• A fuller explanation for the "Restart numbering" needs to be presented. It's not clear.
• The "Restart numbering now" check box needs an explanation.
• The "Name" field and the "Global" check box need an explanation. It's not clear what these are for, nor how to use them.
• Through trial and error, I discovered that the "Style" popup menu is meant to apply Character Styles to the numbers itemizing a numbered list.
• I still don't understand how one would go about setting up coordinated/linked paragraph styles for multi-level lists. 

A fuller explanation of all of this in either the Help files or subsequent tutorial videos is needed.

 

[garrettm30]

52 minutes ago, Mark Oehlschlager said:

I still don't understand how one would go about setting up coordinated/linked paragraph styles for multi-level lists.

I think most of your points could be addressed with an additional video that would explain multi-level lists. It is a more complicated subject.

[fde101]

On 12/2/2020 at 11:37 AM, Mark Oehlschlager said:

• I still don't understand how one would go about setting up coordinated/linked paragraph styles for multi-level lists. 

They need to be set up as text styles.  For each one set the "Next level" (on the "Style" page) to the text style for the next level, making the name of that option quite appropriate...

If you look at the sample styles that are set up by default in a new document, "Bullet 1" has "Next style" set to "Bullet 2", then "Bullet 2" to "Bullet 3"; similarly for "Numbered 1" -> "Numbered 2" -> "Numbered 3"...

 

On 12/2/2020 at 11:37 AM, Mark Oehlschlager said:

The "Restart numbering now" check box needs an explanation.

It does exactly what it says: it causes a numbered list to start over from the current paragraph.  That is, if you are on item "4.", it is renumbered as item "1." - making it in effect the start of a new list.

 

On 12/2/2020 at 11:37 AM, Mark Oehlschlager said:

Proper use of the "Level" field needs to be demonstrated. It's not clear.

This indicates the level of the current paragraph (if using the Paragraph studio panel - or the level of paragraphs using the text style this is set on when doing it correctly) within a hierarchy of multi-level lists.

For example, if you have three items at level one, followed by two items at level 2, then two more at level 1, the numbers will run "1.", "2.", "3.", "1.", "2.", "4.", "5." - because the second set of "1." and "2." are actually an (ideally indented) list underneath item "3.", then when you drop back to level 1, the numbering of that list continues.  If you have more level 2 items after say "5.", the numbering restarts for those because it is a separate child list underneath "5." and thus distinct from the level 2 list underneath "3."...   think of it as the number of tab stops that the list items should have been indented?

 

On 12/2/2020 at 11:37 AM, Mark Oehlschlager said:

The "Name" field and the "Global" check box need an explanation. It's not clear what these are for, nor how to use them.

These are used to distinguish multiple overlapping lists, or the same list threaded through multiple stories within a document.  The numbering can be maintained across text boxes that way, or if there are other paragraphs and lists in between the one that was named.  Items with the same "name" are considered part of the same list.  Having "global" checked means that it is maintained as a single list even through multiple stories (without that checked it is maintained only within the current story).  You may need to set "Restart numbering" to "Manual Only" for this to work as intended.

[sfriedberg]

On 12/5/2020 at 8:04 PM, fde101 said:

These are used to distinguish multiple overlapping lists, or the same list threaded through multiple stories within a document.  The numbering can be maintained across text boxes that way, or if there are other paragraphs and lists in between the one that was named.  Items with the same "name" are considered part of the same list.

@fde101 are you using "story" as a synonym for "text flow" (i.e., all the text contained in one linked set of text frames)?

[walt.farrell]

18 minutes ago, sfriedberg said:

are you using "story" as a synonym for "text flow" (i.e., all the text contained in one linked set of text frames)?

Yes, "Story" is the technical term used by Serif for the content of a set of linked text frames.

[GuyMiklos]

Very helpful fde101.

I hope the information in your explanation will be added to the help files.