[Doc-SIG] Re: Docutils autonumbered lists
David Goodger
goodger at python.org
Sat Oct 11 22:14:08 EDT 2003
Dethe Elza wrote:
> Today's issue is autonumbered lists.
This came up recently on docutils-users. I wrote:
Some thought has gone into it, and a patch for one alternative has
been produced. See
<http://docutils.sf.net/spec/rst/alternatives.html#auto-enumerated-lists>.
> But after trying it and going through the docs, I appear to have
> substituted footnote notation for list notation.
I don't follow. An example is worth a lot of words. ;-)
> Is there a clear and present reason why we don't do autonumbering
> for lists?
No clear winning syntax has presented itself. The only implementation
done to date is for a candidate syntax that probably isn't a winner.
The issue requires discussion and implementation. It isn't
interesting enough to me to make me want to implement it myself.
> What is the order of magnitude of the work needed to add it?
It would require some parser work. New syntax would require new
regexps. It wouldn't be a huge task, but the parser code is a bit
hairy.
Contributions are, as always, most welcome.
> I also wanted to share a success story. After proseletizing
> restructured text around the office, I finally gave up.
Often new & radical ideas take a while to percolate.
> It's been relatively straightforward, very successful, and now
> everyone in the office is learning to use reST.
>
> Thanks!
You're welcome. May your office experience increased efficiency
through decreased reliance on Word. :-)
David Goodger http://starship.python.net/~goodger
For hire: http://starship.python.net/~goodger/cv
Docutils: http://docutils.sourceforge.net/
(includes reStructuredText: http://docutils.sf.net/rst.html)
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