Big problem with numbered lists

Maryann8, et al.,

I wonder how many people like us have wasted dozens of hours each dealing with this problem. After enough blundering around I have given up on converting to numbered lists, too. My problem is that the numbers and bullets simply look wrong (too big, like other people have found), and there is nothing I can do to correct it.

My problem is compounded by the use of Framesets, which, by the way, is the only way to single source and still have the conventional "Related Links" between native RoboHelp topics and imported FrameMaker topics. Using framesets adds another mysterious layer to the whole mix that makes it impossible to even see what RoboHelp is doing when it converts FrameMaker. Add to that, the poor-quality graphics conversion coming from Frame to RoboHelp, and it makes me wonder if it is even worth it to try to make it work in an automated way.

I have quite a long list of complaints that, if resolved, could make this a really cool product. With the problems in place, it's a very frustrating experience.

... Sorry I couldn't help but vent a little bit on seeing how you came so close to a solution, only to throw up your hands at the end and do a workaround... I keep having the same kind of experience.

Regards,

Tom

Here's what finally worked for my books.
We use many lists, and they often contain child lists.

Using unstructured FrameMaker

I have Convert AutoNumber to HTML list checked in Style Settings.
(In the Project Manager, right click on the top icon that represents the book file.
From the drop-down list, select Properties, then the Style Settings tab.)

Requirements for successful nesting of list items:

1.
In FrameMaker, lists must be manually reset to 1 with as special first tag.
(Even though it looks ok in FM without the reset, because I used a reset paragraph with empty brackets)

2.
Second level list must have their own flow tag.
Otherwise, nested lists become entangled,
and headings that follow get nested in the UL tag of the output HTML,
and they will not start a new topic, even if they're supposed to.

3.
Second level lists must start with an empty bracket,
even though they use a separate flow tag than the first level list.

4.
In a second level list, in order for the second list item to line up properly with the first list item,
I had to map both secondary-level list styles
to BodyLevel1 in the Edit Style Mappings dialog box.

To get there: In the Project Manager, right click on the top icon that represents the book file.
From the drop-down list, select Properties, then the Style Settings tab, then click Edit in the Style Mappings field.
Map the secondary-level list styles to BodyLevel1.

Example of two-level lists that works:
Parent level list:
n1 num list
N:<n=1>.\t

n+ num list
N:<n+>.\t

Child level-list

la alpha list first
a:< ><a=1>.\t

la+ alpha list
a:< ><a+>.\t

Produces this display:

To set the pulltest time and tolerance:

pamj54

If you are ok sending a sample and your css stylesheet, please send me an email at vivekj at adobe dot com.

regards
Vivek Jain

If you have numberings like 1. (a) (i) in FrameMaker, you may not be able to get the same type of numbering by using the option "Convert Autonmbers to HTML lists". RoboHelp will indent the lists by lose the preceding numbering text, for example, 1. (a) (i) will convert to (i).

Okay, not to muck this up even further, but I am totally confused with how to make my lists (numbered lists, bullets, etc) look in RH exactly how they look in Frame. The existing information on this site has not helped me at all.

On the Frame side, I've tried using the \t building block, I've tried using the \t building followed by a couple of spaces, I've tried just using spaces.

I've tried every conceivable combination of settings in the RH Style Settings>Style Mappings dialogs. No matter what I do, the updated step number in RH never looks correct. Tab characters are simply stripped out. When I modify the fmstyles.css, then map my Frame styles to the new ones I created in fmstyles, the change gets overwritten and the results are still unacceptable (poor alignment of multi-line steps or bullets). When I check the HTML code, it appears that RH is adding styles on top of the ones I created in fmstyles.css. Manually changing this stuff after updating in RH is NOT an option because we have thousands of topics and we need this to be 100% automated. Can somebody PLEASE explain to me how this works and how I can get numbered and bullet lists to look correct?

Adobe, this is your cue - we need a specific procedure and/or work-arounds WITH examples on how to retain the formatting of our numbered and bulleted styles with tab characters on the RH side. I am not a novice but this is almost as bad as the Kadov coding, in my opinion.

That is a great idea. I feel like I've tried all other suggestions, to no avail. This should be an adequate workaround. Thanks, Frame.

Hi dmagnum74,

I made a special framemaker file with special style-definitions
I import the styles in my book before I reference the files in Robohelp

in framemaker:
in the style dialog, there´s a tab "numbering"
in the field "format of automatic numbering" I just added a few blanks at the end
(in this example I used underscores instead of blanks to make the position visible)
•\t____

in Robohelp:
you have to adjust the right indent of the mapped style

it´s just a workaround, hope this helps ...

Please be aware that there is a interplay between dialog options - Convert Autonumbers to HTML lists and Ignore Autonumbers. Also, you should ignore autonumbers for FrameMaker styles which may be used in pagination. Final choice depends on your specific project.

The problem here is people who have expertise with both FM and RH. Hopefully someone with such knowledge will pick up this post. I just hoped the blogs would help but you were already familiar with them.