In HTML-based output formats you can choose to have your lists formatted "as text" or as standard HTML <ol> (numbered) and <ul> (bullets) lists. The setting for this is in the HTML Export Options sections for WebHelp and eBooks and for CHM and Visual Studio Help.

Lists as text are the default

By default, lists will be formatted as text, using a combination of formatting methods to achieve maximum compatibility across different browsers, browser versions, viewers and platforms. The advantage of this is the the formatting will be as consistent as possible on all these platforms.

Lists as <ol> and <ul> have some restrictions

When you use standard HTML lists Help+Manual generates HTML and CSS styling to make the lists as accurate as possible, but it will sometimes not be as close to what you format in the Help+Manual editor as the text formatting option.

•The general left indent of the list is included, but it will not be exact. There is still no CSS formatting that will indent lists the same in all browsers, and this is worse in older browsers.

•Hanging indents in lists always revert to the browser's default indent. CSS does not have a definition for the size of the hanging indent part.

•Vertical margins should be correct. By default, browsers typically leave a huge gap between the preceding paragraph and the first list item, because this is the default margin of the browser. Help+Manual corrects this automatically, as far as possible.

•Simple, single-level numbered lists are supported with all numbering options: decimal, upper/lower Roman, upper/lower alpha.

•Numbered lists with level reset (change numbering at specific list items) are also supported

•The list numbering format is always the browser default, which is typically a dot (".") following the number. Brackets, braces and the other formatting options available with Help+Manual's list definitions are only supported  with text-based lists.

•Legal numbering in lists is not supported.

•The bullets available in lists are very limited. Even CSS3 has just 3 bullet symbols: disc, circle and square. If the bullet defined in your Help+Manual topic matches one of the three, the list-style-type attribute is exported. If the bullet does not match, the list-style-type is left undefined and the browser will apply its default style (usually a disc, circle or square).

The paragraph settings of lists, including the indent for the bullets or numbers, are controlled by the first item in the list. To change the indent or the paragraph formatting of the entire list you just need to format the first item.

1.Click in the first item in the list.

2.Adjust the indent of the list with the paragraph tool in the ruler above the editor:

You can also adjust list indents by applying an indented paragraph style to the first item in the list. Note that in outline numbered lists you can only set one indent for the entire list, including the lower levels.

•You can change the paragraph settings of an entire list by formatting the first item of the list manually or with a paragraph style.

•If you also want to apply font settings you must apply styles to all the items in the list.

•Even though the first item controls the entire list, it is good practice to apply your paragraph style to the entire list. Then you won't need to reformat if you ever split the list in two.

The formatting of bullets and numbering in lists is controlled by the formatting of the last character in the first item of the list.

•To make bold numbering add a space to the end of the first item in the list, select the space and make it bold. The numbering will also be bold if the entire first item is bold, of course.

•You can use the same method to change the color of the numbering or the bullets in the list. Just format a space at the end of the first item with a color – the space is invisible so the color won't show.