Trouble creating nested ordered lists in Author mode

[edotm]

Hi.
I support users who don't know xml and will be using Author mode. Our documentation contains ordered lists that may be nested to 3 or more levels.
I am able to create the first level using the Insert an Ordered List button on the DITA toolbar, and can create nested items beneath it using the Insert a New Item in the current list structure. The problem occurs when I need to move up a level from the end of the line at level 3, i.e., how do I create a number '2' back up at level one, or 'b' at level two, using just the graphical ui?
1. level one
a. level two
i. level three

I am able to edit the xml source manually to get to where I want to be, but I can't ask my users to do that. I can have them add all the items at one level and then go back to insert the next level, but that seems like a workaround and they won't be happy with that either.

Is there some other point and click operation they can use?
Thanks

[alex_jitianu]

Hi,

We already have an issue recorded to provide Promote/Demote support, mapped to the TAB and SHIFT+TAB keys. I've increased its priority and we will notifiy you on this thread when it gets released. Until then, as an workaround, perhaps you can advice your users to:
- change the Tags display mode to Block tags
- use the Left/Right arrows to position inside the level 2 or level 1 list elements
- use the Insert list item action on the toolbar to insert an item

Best regards,
Alex

[edotm]

Thanks for the workaround Alex - I think the users will be able to work with this. I appreciate that you're increasing the priority on the issue and will await your notification when its released.

[hjmccormick10]

How do I start an ordered list with a specific number within DITA?

<ol start="7"> does not work. Message states that "start" is not a permitted attribute.

Many thanks.

[Radu]

Hi,

Docbook has this support out of the box but DITA does not.
So for DITA you would need some kind of XSLT customization to support this, for example setting an @outputclass attribute on the <ol> and then matching it from a custom CSS for the XHTML output or having an XSLT customization for the PDF output.

Regards,
Radu

[alex_jitianu]

Hi,

For those of you that find it interesting, the newly released Oxygen 18 has Promote/Demote support for List items. To use them, you have to position yourself at the beginning of the item and use the following keyboard shortcuts:
- Promote (Shift + Tab)
- Demote (Tab)

If you prefer having author actions on the toolbar then you can create such actions based on the new operation: ro.sync.ecss.extensions.commons.operations.PromoteDemoteItemOperation

Best regards,
Alex