List of Tables, List of Figures

[Fred Ridder]

Mike's explanation is basically correct, but I'd like to amplify and
hopefully clarify a couple of issues.

The letter label that Mike suggests using is officially called a "series
label". I'd *strenuously* suggest that you not adopt Mike's usage
of thinking of the numbering series as a "flow", since that term is
already overloaded with different meanings in different contexts.

And the series label can actually be almost any character that
you can type directly on a keyboard. Upper-case and lower-case
letters are different labels, and once you run our of letters you
can use digits and many of the standard punctuation marks,
although I'd strongly recommend against using anything except
lettes. AFAIK, the only reserved characters are ones that have
specific usage in autonumbering formats (angle brackers, plus
sign, etc.). And in addition to whatever labeled numbering series
are defined in a given document, there is always a single default,
unlabeled series.

The utility of series labels is to make each of the labeled series
completely independent from each other. In technial document
templates that use section numbering it is common practice to
use a single labeled series with multile counter elements so that
each different heading level can reset the counters for all of
the subordinate headings so that they will start with .1. For a
scheme with up to four levels of section headings in a chapter,
for example, you could define a single labeled numbering series
that uses the $chapnum system variable plus four additional
counters or five individual counters if you don't use $chapnum.

Where common practice diverges is whether to use separate
numbering series for figures and tables (or examples, or
equations, or anything else that gets numbered labels). If
you want to include the chapter number in the figure/table
numbering (e.g. "Figure 3-2" for the 2nd figure in chapter 3),
it's probably better to use a single, consolidated numbering
series. But if you use simple front-to-back numbering schemes
for figures and tables, it's personal preference whether to
use separate series or a consolidated master series.

In the documents I work on, it would drive users absolutely
crazy if I labeled tables and figures with identical captions in
a common numbering sequence. Tables and figures present
*very* different kinds of infomation and in fundamentally
different ways. When one of our users is looking for tabular
information (a connector pin-out, for example, or a register
description table), he couldn't care less where it is located
relative to any of the figures.

Finally, you might want to consider the use of a single-cell
table to contain your figures. The advantage of this approach
is that you are able to use the table title for the figure caption
so that the caption is embedded in the same container as the
figure rather than being a separate paragraph. You can get
the same end result either way, but IMO the table approach
is easier to maintain.

-Fred Ridder


>From: "Mike Wickham" <mewickham at compuserve.com>
>To: "Molly Keegan" <molly.keegan at ois.com>,"Frame Users" 
><framers at lists.FrameUsers.com>
>Subject: Re: List of Tables, List of Figures
>Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2007 16:41:10 -0500
>
>>I'm trying to set up my two lists so that the figure number appears in 
>>front
>>of the figure title (same with tables).  I can't find a user variable for
>>figure number or table number. Am I missing something?  Can I create one
>>myself?
>
>Molly,
>
>Here's how I do it.
>
>1. For my figure title paragraph format, in the Paragraph Designer, on the 
>Numbering tab, I checked the Autonumber Format checkbox to turn on 
>autonumbering.
>
>2. In the Autonumber Format box, I put "F:Fig. <n+>. " This causes "Fig. 1. 
>" to appear before the first figure title, and to increment with each 
>additional figure. The letter and colon (in this case, "F:") is the "flow." 
>It sets this numbering scheme  separate from any others you may have set 
>up. It could be any letter. I picked F: for figures. You might want to use 
>T: to have your separate numbering scheme for tables in your table title 
>format. You can also choose a character format in the Numbering tab to make 
>"Fig. 1. " bold.
>
>Personally, I think it's so much easier to number all figures, tables, etc. 
>with one scheme. It makes it so much easier for the reader to find them. 
>Will the reader find Table 4 before or after Fig. 38? If it's called Fig. 
>39, instead of Table 4, the answer is clear.
>
>Mike Wickham

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