List style question

[engelbrecht]

Sorry if I'm being dense, but I can't see how to save a list style as a paragraph style.

In other words, I have a certain list style saved in the 'list' palette, but I want to be able to click on a paragraph style and have that list style applied. At the moment it applies the paragraph formatting but not the bullets, etc. of the list. I seem to have to do that separately.

Am I missing something?

[verma]

Sorry if I'm being dense, but I can't see how to save a list style as a paragraph style.

In other words, I have a certain list style saved in the 'list' palette, but I want to be able to click on a paragraph style and have that list style applied. At the moment it applies the paragraph formatting but not the bullets, etc. of the list. I seem to have to do that separately.

Am I missing something?

I fear they're different animals. You can save list styles, but that concerns the numbering/lettering options only. And paragraph style doesn't specify any list settings. I'd suggest you name a list style for your numbering purposes, and define a paragraph style with the same name for the accompanying paragraph. But you'll have to do two operations ....

[engelbrecht]

I fear they're different animals. You can save list styles, but that concerns the numbering/lettering options only. And paragraph style doesn't specify any list settings. I'd suggest you name a list style for your numbering purposes, and define a paragraph style with the same name for the accompanying paragraph. But you'll have to do two operations ....

That's utterly ridiculous. This is what really annoys me about Mellel - I love the programme but I hate its limitations. I should be able to set a list style with one-click. Once I've saved the style I can do it with one click in Word. It takes three clicks in Mellel. And I have to do that every time that list occurs in the document!

[verma]

That's utterly ridiculous. This is what really annoys me about Mellel - I love the programme but I hate its limitations. I should be able to set a list style with one-click. Once I've saved the style I can do it with one click in Word. It takes three clicks in Mellel. And I have to do that every time that list occurs in the document!

Have you already tried to define a list style in Word - and by "List Style" I mean a style just for the listing items (a character font for the numbers, fixed indentation, spacing and the rest), different from the paragraph style used for the listed items?

What the caterpillar considers as the end of the world, is a butterfly for the rest of us.

Oh well, I'll never learn.

[rpcameron]

Of course you can set the character and paragraph settings of the number for a list style separately than from the text of the list items. In the Edit style sets dialogue, choose the list style you wish to modify. Then in the resulting screen, you can choose the character style (and variation) for each level of the list, as well as modify its indent (as well as margins). (All of these settings are the same as the List palette, but they'll remain for all resulting documents if you make the changes in the Style sets.)

The rest of the paragraph settings (line spacing &c.) will come from the style of the list items themselves.

[engelbrecht]

Perhaps I'm not explaining myself properly. I would like to be able to click on a style in the Paragraph style and have list features as part of that.

In other words with one click, I can apply bullets and any other formatting. You can do this in InDesign, once the style is set up. You can do it in Word. But in Mellel, as far as I can see, I have to first apply the paragraph style, then click on the 'increase' button in the list palette and then either choose bullets or select a list style.

I'd like to be able to wrap this up in one style setting.

I've been using Mellel for years and I still can't get used to the idiosyncratic way it handles styles.

[rpcameron]

Perhaps I'm not explaining myself properly. I would like to be able to click on a style in the Paragraph style and have list features as part of that.

In other words with one click, I can apply bullets and any other formatting. You can do this in InDesign, once the style is set up. You can do it in Word. But in Mellel, as far as I can see, I have to first apply the paragraph style, then click on the 'increase' button in the list palette and then either choose bullets or select a list style.

I'd like to be able to wrap this up in one style setting.

Just for clarification, then, you would like to have a paragraph style linked from the list; or rather, to have paragraph styles have the option for lists? This would mean the elimination of the list style, and migrating the list style options as part of a paragraph style. (Or perhaps a better method would be intrinsically linking a list style to a paragraph, so that when an indent is created, it defaults to a particular list style.)

I can understand the desire for this, as I usually have different before/after paragraph settings for my lists than I do for body paragraphs. However, I believe the steps necessary for the abstraction of list vs. paragraph styles—and finding an intuitive way to link and/or differentiate between them—are too much.

Presently it is only 2 keystrokes (Cmd+Opt+# for the paragraph style, then Cmd+] to activate a list), and I feel that is quite sufficient.

However, like I said, I can see the interest for what it is that you are looking for, but I feel that Mellel's style paradigm (and abstraction of each type of style) makes the implementation of this idea a real challenge. Perhaps someone can come up with a flowchart/diagram to show the interaction of paragraph, character and list styles that would be necessary to create a 1–keystroke way to change to a determined list and paragraph style, and conversely a 1–keystroke way to switch back; however, this should be a switch, and not a toggle, type of keystroke. (I.e. Cmd+# vs. Cmd+I).