If you work really hard with Xara's Numbered Lists, you can just about make it work.
It is a mash-up of Tabs marks, Tabbing, Starting values and Linking to the prior list.

It fails dramatically when you are shifting paragraphs and sections around. You are faced with reworking each list number all over.
It fails with nesting: you can have 1. <newline> a. but never 1.<newline> 1.a. <newline>.

First, a word on Text Styles.
In HTML, there are a collection of heading tags. HTML5 declares <H1>, <H2>, <H3>, <H4>, <H5> & <H6>.
I remember back in the day, you could go as far as <H9>
Xara has a Text Style Outline Level from Level 1 to Level 9, which probably reflect my early HTML experience.

Xara has three built-in Headings: Heading 1 at Level 1, Heading 2 at Level 2 & Heading 3 at Level 3.
The Xara HTML Filter generates <H1>, <H2> & <H3> tags from these and also includes a list of Heading_n styles to wrap around the text using one of these styles.

The question arises, where are <H4>, <H5> and <H6>?
SEO champions stress the importance of using <H1>, <H2> and <H3> in correct level order in documents to enhance you chances of getting noticed.

You can introduce new text styles, Heading 4 to Heading 9.
This does not add in the missing H-tags but it allows for nested list numbering all the way down to Level 9.

The steps are simple:

  • Create Style - Heading 4 (based on Heading 3 or anything)
  • Set its Level to the same number.
  • Repeat all the way down to Heading 9.


Now, forget using the Xara Number List function. It has its uses but does not offer nesting.

The nesting is fully automatic so when you re-arrange your work, it is fully updated.
Never skip a level: if you are at Heading 4 and need to inset a following Heading 6, you must include an in-between Heading 5.

Add this CSS to the Website Head:
Code:
<style>
.panel { counter-reset: h1; }
.Heading_1 { counter-reset: h2; counter-increment: h1; }
.Heading_2 { counter-reset: h3; counter-increment: h2; }
.Heading_3 { counter-reset: h4; counter-increment: h3; }
.Heading_4 { counter-reset: h5; counter-increment: h4; }
.Heading_5 { counter-reset: h6; counter-increment: h5; }
.Heading_6 { counter-reset: h7; counter-increment: h6; }
.Heading_7 { counter-reset: h8; counter-increment: h7; }
.Heading_8 { counter-reset: h9; counter-increment: h8; }
.Heading_9 { counter-increment: h9; }
.Heading_1:before { content: counter(h1) ". "; }
.Heading_2:before { content: counter(h1) "." counter(h2) " "; }
.Heading_3:before { content: counter(h1) "." counter(h2) "." counter(h3)" "; }
.Heading_4:before { content: counter(h1) "." counter(h2) "." counter(h3) "." counter(h4) " "; }
.Heading_5:before { content: counter(h1) "." counter(h2) "." counter(h3) "." counter(h4) "." counter(h5) " "; }
.Heading_6:before { content: counter(h1) "." counter(h2) "." counter(h3) "." counter(h4) "." counter(h5) "." counter(h6) " "; }
.Heading_7:before { content: counter(h1) "." counter(h2) "." counter(h3) "." counter(h4) "." counter(h5) "." counter(h6) "." counter(h7) " "; }
.Heading_8:before { content: counter(h1) "." counter(h2) "." counter(h3) "." counter(h4) "." counter(h5) "." counter(h6) "." counter(h7) "." counter(h8) " "; }
.Heading_9:before { content: counter(h1) "." counter(h2) "." counter(h3) "." counter(h4) "." counter(h5) "." counter(h6) "." counter(h7) "." counter(h8) "." counter(h9) " "; }
</style>
Have a play with CSS- Nested Number Lists.xar and try your own documents.

Your constructive feedback will help develop this approach further.

Acorn