Multi-Level Numbering with Sub-levels as indented roman numerals

[Stephen29788049x17z]

Hi hoping to get some help on this. Attached is what im looking to do, but the catch is it has to be accessible and (so no tables, one text box, and flows as a screen reader might read it). This is on a long document too. I cant for the life of me figure out how to get it to work (not even sure if possible). Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Basically need an auto numbering which goes like:

1.        (i)      Text start

         (ii)      Text Start

2.       (i)      Text Start

         (ii)      Text Start

etc.

[Willi Adelberger]

Put it into an table, 1st level in 1st column. You need to write a spce in first level

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

The short answer is that no, you probably can't do what you're seeking, as InDesign manages lists/numbering on a paragraph by paragraph basis and it has almost no facility for putting paragraphs on the same line. There is one potential workaround — more a hack, really — but if it works it will only do so at the cost of other complications.

One approach —

• Set up your Level 1 and Level 2 numbering so that they stack and number as you wish.
• Set both to have the same line spacing (say, 14pt).
• The Level 1 head can have Space Above, but no other space above/below can be used in the list.
• Set your level two (roman numeral) style to baseline-shift up the leading amount (+14pt).

This will produce the effect you want, but at the cost of having weird "phantom" lines in the document at the bottom of each Level 2 stack, and editing will be a little odd as the cursor will be a line below the text, etc.

You can also —

• Create a child style for the second level, Level 2 cont.
• Set the Level 2 paragraph style to have zero leading, which will only work for the first item to follow a Level 1 head.
• Set Level 2 cont to have 14pt spacing, and use it for all subsequent second level items.

Again, you'll have editing adn cursor oddities with that scheme, and it will take considerable careful management. Among other glitches, the first Level 2 entries cannot be more than one line lone. But if there's a third method, or anything more integral to ID's features, I can't think of it. (ETA: WA's technique with tables may be the only "canonical" way to get multiple paragraphs on the same line, but then every list will have to be in a table structure, which may be too limiting.)

The latter approach does allow a bit more flexibility in spacing etc.:

(Ask away if any of that is not clear. It's a kind of tangled setup.)

[Stephen29788049x17z]

Thanks James but this wont work for my purposes. I'll just have to try a different style. I should of mentioned Im designing accessibly to meet WCAG guidelines so this method I suspect would cause too much of a headache down the road. 

I greatly appreciate everyones input though!

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Yeah, if you have to maintain an accessible structure, you can't monkey around with the document structure. ID simply has no integral way to put paragraphs on the same line, so I guess you have to choose between a visual layout or an accessible structure. 😛

[FRIdNGE]

Show us an InDesign sample!

(^/)  The Jedi

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@Stephen29788049x17z

Looks like you need a custom solution - that will go through your list(s) and add Arabic or Roman numerals.

[FRIdNGE]

Simplistically, with just a Find/Replace 1 click to play all the document!

(^/)

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@FRIdNGE

But it needs to be "accessible"?

[FRIdNGE]

Don't forget to include a "span" setting on "Level 2" para style to keep a total control off the Space below of the List last para.

(^/)