Limitation in numbered lists?

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by MacEachaidh

Jellby, your system isn't so clear, and falls down when the items in the list are longer than a single line. The list then becomes a bit messy and indistinct.

Well, you have to provide some styling, which I deliberately omitted. For example, if you want a hanging indent in the list items:

div.list p {
  text-indent: -2em;
  margin-left: 2em;
}

and if you want multi-paragraph items, one could be a bit more elaborate:

<div class="list">
 <p class="item">1. Item 1</p>
 <p class="item">2. Item 2</p>
   <p>Second paragraph of item 2</p>
 <p class="item">3. Item 3</p>
</div>

div.list p {
  margin-left: 2em;
}
div.list p.item {
  text-indent: -2em;
}

Yes, you have to number the items by hand, but you have to number the chapters and footnotes by hand too. If you are constantly reordering elements, you should consider creating the content in some kind of scripting or post-processing.

[mrmikel]

If you are looking for exact layout and control, then looking at epubs makes no sense. Anything that reflows will never be easy to attain perfect formatting in.

I think people are looking for a format that will magically work like a magnifying glass, but none does, especially over a range of sizes from cell phone to laptop computer.

If you want browser type flexibility, then web pages and their browsers with all their facilities and tests are about all that answer that need.