Problem with overriding style for substeps

[joehansen]

Hi
I'm using XMetal 6.0.
I have a question regarding how to override the style for substeps.
Default substeps in task topics are numbered alphabetically like:

1. step one
    a. substep one
    b. substep two

I want to change this to numerical numbering:

1. step one
    1. substep one
    2. substep two

Customization of styles is done by editing the file: ditabase-derived-override.css
located in C:Program FilesXMetaL 6.0AuthorDITAXACsditabase.

First I inserted the following code, where I changed the list-style-type to decimal.
This did not work.
/* substeps {*/
[class~=”task/substeps”] {
display: block;
list-style-type: decimal;
counter-reset: substeps;
}

Then I removed the class definition and inserted the following code.
This worked!
/* substeps {*/
{
display: block;
list-style-type: decimal;
counter-reset: substeps;
}

Now my question:
Why do I have to remove the class definition?
Is this a bug or normal behaviour, so that styles can only be changed
by deleting the class defintion?
I suspect that i will loose inheritance when deleting the class definition.

I sincerely hope that someone can explain this to me.

Best regards
Joe Hansen

Reply

[Su-Laine Yeo]

Hi Joe,

The following code should work:

/* substeps */
[class~=”task/step”]>[class~=”task/substeps”] {
   display: block;
   list-style-type: decimal;
   counter-reset: substeps;
}

Class-based styling in the override.css files works, however this case was tricky because it is necessary to override the styling defined for nested

elements, in addition to overriding the styling defined for elements.

Your second code example applies decimal styling to all types of lists, not just substeps, because you had the word “substeps” commented out. You probably did this by accident, but if it's what you're after, it will work!

Su-Laine

Reply

[joehansen]

Hi Su-Laine

Thank you very much for your quick answer.
This was a tough nut you cracked for me :-).
I will change my code as you suggest.

Best Regards
Joe

Reply

[Author]

Posts