Re: Chapter headings

[Sebastien Vauban <sva-news-D0wtAvR13HarG/iDocfnWg@public.gmane.org>]

Nick Dokos wrote:
> Steven Arntson <steven-9v/4WlS9d01uOnY4IQmrIgC/G2K4zDHf@public.gmane.org> writes:
>
>> Hello, I'm a beginning org-mode user.
>>
>> I'm writing a book with many chapters, each chapter as a top-level
>> header (*). Is there a way to assign chapter numbers automatically, such
>> that I might get a result along the lines of:
>>
>> * 1. This is a chapter containing thousands of words.
>>
>> * 2. This is the next chapter, with many words.
>>
>> * 3. And so on.
>
> There are probably many ways to do that, but I want to invert the
> question: *why* do you want chapter numbers in your org file?
> I would argue that they are a bad idea in the vast majority of cases.

Numbers can be nice be particularly nice when having some colleague (or
boss) on the phone asking you to fix the typo on the second paragraph of
page 12. When you tell them you don't see page numbers, they give you
the section number... and you've to ask for the title, not its number.

This is to say that numbers could be a positive feedback for the writer,
but they certainly would have to be overlays on the Org headings, not
saved with the file.

Best regards,
  Seb

-- 
Sebastien Vauban