List Objects

Lists are collections of items, where each item is indented and marked separately with some identifier. Though often they are simply text, the list items can be paragraphs, tables, or even other lists, alone or in combination. The list on the left is a numbered list (a list where the ordering matters); on the right is a bullet list or unnumbered list.

It's best to follow these steps:

put on your shoes,
then tie them.

Do either first, but today please:

clean your room.
walk the dog.

Both examples have three paragraphs. list item attribute

The first paragraph stands by itself; the second two paragraphs are grouped together to make a List. Bring this page up in Composer (Menubar: File, select Edit Page) and click anywhere in the paragraph "clean your room" or "put on your shoes": notice their paragraph style is List Item.

multi-block list The box to the left shows list items that themselves contain lists. How many List Objects are there all together?

one ???
three ???
four ???
eight ???

List Properties

List Objects have basically only one property, the style property, which controls how all a list's items are marked. A blank line is placed between a list object and the content preceding and following it. There are no properties which change the spacing or the amount of indent a list has.

Style

Bullet List style (also called an Unnumbered List): unnumbered lists are best used when the items can be mixed around without changing the list's intent.
Numbered List style (also called an Ordered List): a list where the sequence of the items matters. Ordered lists might indicate a rank ordering of items, or a sequence of steps.
Description List style: used typically for definition or descriptions of terms.

Two other styles, Directory List and Menu List, defined in early HTML standards, have not been implemented, and are scheduled to be expired in future standards. Composer allows selection of these styles, though they will display as a Bullet List.

Bullet List style

The list items in bullet lists are marked with a disc, a circle, or a square. Here's an example of the default behavior of indented bullet lists:

A Web Page, composed of:

Lists, which are made of:

paragraphs
other lists

Tables, which are made of:

lists
paragraphs
other tables

Paragraphs, which are made of:

characters
image files

These defaults can be overridden for any one List Object from the Bullet Style selector in the List box of the Paragraph Properties window.

Numbered List style

The list items for bullet lists are marked in ascending sequence, with either a letter (upper or lowercase), a number, or a Roman numeral (upper or lowercase). Both the numbering style and the starting number can be specified for any one List block from the Number Style selector in the List box of the Paragraph properties window.

Don't forget:

ready
aim
fire

Don't forget:

ready
aim
fire

Don't forget:

ready
aim
fire

Don't forget:

ready
aim
fire

Don't forget:

ready
aim
fire

Unfortunately, the actual item numbers used when building a list in Composer are not visible until the page is previewed in a browser. Bring this page up in Composer (Menubar: File, select Edit Page) and compare how the list items are marked.

Description List style

A Description List is used to display a set of terms and their (indented) descriptions or definitions. The following 4 pairs of paragraphs were set in alternate paragraph styles, Description Title style followed by Description Text style.

Character:

typed from the keyboard, plus a few special others.

Image:

photo/graphic, stored separately in JPEG or PNG file.

Link:

some combination of character(s) and/or image(s).

Paragraph:

the characters and images set down between ENTER keystrokes.

Adding a List to a page

To start a new list:

start a new line to begin the list; then
click the button for bullet or numbered list
then enter the list items; each ENTER keystroke starts a new list item.

To end the list:

an ENTER keystroke to start a new item; then
set its paragraph style to Normal
bring the cursor to the left margin with the Decrease Indent button.

Make a list from existing (adjacent) paragraphs

Select (with a sweep of the cursor) the paragraphs, and click the appropriate list button.

Nesting Lists in List Items

Use the Increase Indent button to nest list item(s) one level deeper, and the Decrease Indent button to move out a level.

Deleting a List from a page

To keep the content of the list items (as separate paragraphs), but remove the list effect:

select (with a sweep of the cursor) the items to be "un-listed"; then
set their paragraph style to Normal
bring them to the left margin with the Decrease Indent button.

To totally delete the list and its content, select (with a sweep of the cursor) the items to be deleted, and use the CUT keystroke, button, or menu selection.

Modifying a List

Simply changing a numbered list to a bullet list (and vice versa) can be done by positioning the cursor in any item of a list and then clicking the desired list style button.

To make more complex changes to list objects (i.e. changing the numbering style or the starting number):

R-Click in any item of the list;
select Character Properties, then the Paragraph TAB;
select the desired style options in the List box .

=OR=

L-Click the cursor in any item of the list;
Menubar: Format, select Character Properties, then the Paragraph TAB;
select the desired style options in the List box .