Help! I’m going crazy over bullets and numbers

eyolf

Over the past few days, I’ve been thrown between Schylla and Charybdis over the topic of numbered/bulleted lists, styles, default settings, connection with outline numbering etc. I think I’ve sorted out some problems, but some remain, and I would love to hear from someone more experienced.

Basically, my questions are:
1. where are the default settings for lists taken from when I make a new list? And how do I make my own default settings in the template?
I want a 10 point offset from bullet to text instead of the 18pt which seems to be default. I can change that in the Format > Bullets/numbers dialog, of course, but then it only applies to that particular list. I've also tried to change it in the standard list formats, and I've created a new paragraph style with numbering on, connected to "List 1" with that positioning set to 10pt, but to no avail - I still have to set it each time through Bullets/numbers.
2. I'm also confounded by the relationship between Outlining and Bullets/numbers. I read in Bruce Byfeld's series (http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/7759) that one should "be careful to include text that uses each of the outline levels have configured. Through some oversight, multi-style outline settings are not preserved in a template unless they actually are used." Is this the case for Bullets/numbers too? At least it seems to be - or maybe I'm wrong - I'm getting confused by all the tests I've made, settings I've changed and re-changed, etc.
The bottom line is, as Byfeld also points out, that the relationship between Outlining and Bullets/Numbers, and the connection with list styles is far from clear, and in some respects flawed.

Part of the problem has probably been related to conversion from Word. I made the mistake of converting a word template to an OOo template and setting it as default. From there on, I got WW8... styles all over the place, and it was impossible to remove them. I ended up making a new template, making all the settings manually, then creating empty docs and pasting in the contents of the converted Word files and the other files that were created from the Word-based template. Only then did i manage to get rid of the WW8... styles.

Any clarification would be welcome - especially concerning the hierarchy of things, and where the default settings are stored.

ftack · Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2005 12:50 am Post subject:

eyolf · Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2005 2:04 pm Post subject:

Thanks a lot for your reply. Especially the part about never, ever using Numbers and Bullets again... Smile

ftack · Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2005 1:35 am Post subject:

Glad my lengthy reply was of help Wink

Some few additional remarks:

1) N/B is being reworked by hte developpers and will implement saving custom numbering formats from the Format - Numbering Bullets dialog.

2) B/N does actually work very well in Writer! It is only the interface, "Format - Bullets & numbering", and in particular the buttons, that is not what it should be. When you are using List styles, you rely on exactly the same feature, except that you keep all the control. Internally, in the XML format that OOo uses, formatting a list using "format - Numbering & Bullets" is handled in exactly the same way as if you were using Bullet styles. In other words, under the hood, OOo uses List styles as well! Thus, using List styles, you are using the same tools, except that you can save the settings and manipulate them from one central location.