Bullets, numbered lists and tabs in Layout by Zaweba

Bullets, numbering and tabs are where text stops being plain paragraphs and starts carrying structure. Steps in instructions, items in a list, prices aligned in a menu. Layout by Zaweba handles all of them as part of paragraph formatting, so they stay neat as the text changes.

Bullets and numbering

Bullets and numbering have levels, formats, restart, mode and a character style. Levels give nested lists, with sub points indented under main points and their own format at each level. Formats decide what the number or bullet looks like. Restart begins numbering again, for a new list in the same story. The character style lets the number or bullet have its own look, such as a bold number or a coloured bullet, without affecting the text that follows.

Because numbering is automatic, adding or removing an item renumbers the rest. That's a great deal safer than typed numbers in instructions that are still being edited.

Named lists across stories

Named lists are numbered across stories. Numbering normally belongs to one story, but a named list carries the count from one frame to another separate one. Figures or tables numbered through a document, or questions in a workbook spread across separate boxes, keep counting correctly.

Put the list settings into a paragraph style, and every paragraph using that style joins the list.

Tabs and leaders

Tabs line text up at set positions. Layout offers left, centre, right, decimal and align-on tabs, with leaders and a tab ruler.

Left, centre and right tabs align text at those points. A decimal tab lines numbers up on their decimal point, so a column of prices reads neatly whatever the number of digits. Align-on lines text up on a character you choose.

Leaders fill the space before a tab with a repeated character, usually dots. A contents page with dot leaders running from each chapter title to its page number is the standard use, and so is a restaurant menu with dishes on the left and prices on the right.

The tab ruler shows the stops above the text so you can place and move them by eye, then fine tune.

Lists and tabs that behave

Put bullets, numbering and tabs into paragraph styles rather than setting them paragraph by paragraph. A list style applied to every list keeps them all consistent and lets you change them in one place.

Use one tab between items, never several. Pressing tab repeatedly to push text across breaks as soon as anything is edited; a single tab to a properly set stop stays put.

Use decimal tabs for money and figures. Aligning prices with spaces never quite works.

When a numbered list restarts unexpectedly, or doesn't restart when it should, check the restart setting and whether the paragraphs belong to the same list.

Where these fit

Bullets and tabs work with paragraph styles, tables and the contents feature. For simple aligned columns, tabs are lighter than a table; for anything with borders, shading or many columns, a table is better. Knowing which to reach for keeps a document tidy in Layout by Zaweba.