Chapter headings

Chapter headings

[Steven Arntson]

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.

Thank you!
steven arntson

Re: Chapter headings

[Nick Dokos]

Steven Arntson <steven@stevenarntson.com> 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.

Nick

Re: Chapter headings

[Steven Arntson]

Nick Dokos <ndokos@gmail.com> writes:

> 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.
>
> Nick

I'm just accustomed to seeing them in my working drafts. Perhaps it is I
who needs to change, rather than my unnumbered chapters! Something I
haven't explored yet with org-mode is exporting to LaTeX, but it sounds
like these numbers can be made to appear after export. I'm not yet a
LaTeX user, so I may wait to explore that until I get to it.

Best!
steven

Re: Chapter headings

[Alan Tyree]

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Unless you have the structure of your book set in stone, numbers just get
in your way. The great power of org is being able to write 'modularly' and
rearrange at will.

When you export, your chapter/section numbers will be right as well as all
cross references.

I think you'll be happier to ignore numbered headings when writing. I've
just moved to org for a 600+ page book -- Magic (and even more magic once
the whole bibliographic reference problem is solved).

Cheers,
Alan


On 29 March 2014 07:49, Steven Arntson <steven@stevenarntson.com> wrote:

> Nick Dokos <ndokos@gmail.com> writes:
>
> > 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.
> >
> > Nick
>
> I'm just accustomed to seeing them in my working drafts. Perhaps it is I
> who needs to change, rather than my unnumbered chapters! Something I
> haven't explored yet with org-mode is exporting to LaTeX, but it sounds
> like these numbers can be made to appear after export. I'm not yet a
> LaTeX user, so I may wait to explore that until I get to it.
>
> Best!
> steven
>
>
>
>


-- 
Alan L Tyree                    http://www2.austlii.edu.au/~alan
Tel:  04 2748 6206

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Re: Chapter headings

[Steven Arntson]

Back in my mac-user days I used a program called "Scrivener" that would
renumber chapters on the fly if I dragged them to new positions. I think
I was missing that functionality a little, but now that I think about
it, I shouldn't miss it. It didn't add anything. My next project will be
to learn more about exporting. I'm sure I will have questions as I
encounter that ...

Re: Chapter headings

[Scott Randby]

On 03/28/2014 10:18 PM, Steven Arntson wrote:
> Back in my mac-user days I used a program called "Scrivener" that would
> renumber chapters on the fly if I dragged them to new positions. I think
> I was missing that functionality a little, but now that I think about
> it, I shouldn't miss it. It didn't add anything. My next project will be
> to learn more about exporting. I'm sure I will have questions as I
> encounter that ...
>

One of the wonderful features of Org is the ability to rearrange
headlines easily without worrying about numbering. You can switch
headlines around at will and Org takes care of all the numbering when
you export.

Scott Randby

Re: Chapter headings

[Sebastien Vauban]

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

Re: Chapter headings

[Scott Randby]

On 03/28/2014 04:08 PM, Steven Arntson wrote:
> 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.
>
> Thank you!
> steven arntson
>
>
>

Chapter numbers are automatically assigned when you export to LaTeX
unless you turn off numbering. You can also control numbering with the
following code.

#+OPTIONS: num:t

#+OPTIONS: num:nil

The first line turns on numbering of exported headlines, and the second
line turns off numbering of exported headlines. You can then eliminate
the numbers in the headlines of your org file.

See the following link for more information about export options.

http://orgmode.org/manual/Export-settings.html

Scott Randby