bullets and numbering

[Nancy_Hoft@adobeforums.com]

Is it possible to automate the numbering of paragraphs--a numbered list--using a standard outline-type hierarchy, or is the only solution to type manually numbers and letters (upper and lower case) and set up all sorts of complicated and nested tabbing? From what I'm reading, numbering and bullets are a 100 percent manual effort in InDesign. (Why??)

Thanks in advance for your input.

[Stu_Bloom@adobeforums.com]

Is it possible to automate the numbering of paragraphs--a numbered list--using
a standard outline-type hierarchy




No

or is the only solution to type manually numbers and letters (upper and
lower case) and set up all sorts of complicated and nested tabbing?




Yes. The PageMaker plugin provides some auto numbering capability, but not to the level of complexity you describe.

From what I'm reading, numbering and bullets are a 100 percent manual
effort in InDesign.




You read correctly.

(Why??)




Because real designers like to do things the hard way, and Adobe caters to what it perceives as the needs of real designers. Only the bumblers (of which I am proud to be one) appreciate text automation features that have been in word processors since MS-DOS days.

[Nancy_Hoft@adobeforums.com]

Thanks, Stu. From a fellow bumbler, sigh . . .:-)

[Dominic_Hurley@adobeforums.com]

For what it's worth, I don't think it's a case of catering to "the needs of real designers". I reckon the thinking is more that apps like ID are meant to be the last stage in the process and that numbering and text composition should be done in word processors and then imported into ID. ID is far from unusual among DTP apps in not having such features.

[Stu_Bloom@adobeforums.com]

In some future ideal world, when every creator of text is on stream with the right way to format numbers and bullets and perform other paragraph formatting, perhaps. Maybe you already live in that kind of ideal world. I don't. The first thing I do when I get a text file is to strip all that stuff out of it so that I can do it the right way in InDesign.

[Coder Droid]

<Dominic_Hurley@adobeforums.com> wrote in message
news:2cd02a35.18@webx.la2eafNXanI...

> For what it's worth, I don't think it's a case of catering
> to "the needs of real designers". I reckon the thinking is
> more that apps like ID are meant to be the last stage in the
> process and that numbering and text composition should be done
> in word processors and then imported into ID.

That's the best explanation I've ever heard for this. Thanks.

--cd

[baidarkabob@adobeforums.com]

Me too Stu!

b

[Dominic_Hurley@adobeforums.com]

Maybe you already live in that kind of ideal world. I don't. The first thing I do when I get a text file is to strip all that stuff out of it so that I can do it the right way in InDesign.

Eh? You completely misunderstood me. Of course formatting should be done in a DTP app. But I believe the rationale for the feature set in many of them is that text composition (not text formatting, page layout, preflighting, etc, etc) should be done in a word processor. And note that I said "I reckon the thinking is". In other words, that is not necessarily my opinion. In fact, I'm like you - I have macros to remove WP formatting and pretag it for use in DTP app. I import txt files. But I do often use WPs for text editing.

[JohnO@adobeforums.com]

>set up all sorts of complicated and nested tabbing?

This part is easy with styles...

-John O