List indentation with show rule but top-level doesn't change

[jamesly]

Hello, I wanted to change the indentation of lists at the beginning but I found that if I do set list inside of brackets, the top level doesn’t change.

// work as expected.
#set list(indent: 1em)
#show list: set list(indent: 1em)
// Doesn't work on top-level items. Indents children items okay.
#show list: it => [#set list(indent: 1em); #it]

I wanted to apply multiple styles to bullets so I wanted to use a show rule instead of multiple separate rules. Why doesn’t the 3rd code work like the other two?

[vmartel08]

Hi there,

There are a few posts around like this one that should answer your question. tl;dr: you should use a show: set rule rather than a basic show rule.

Which show rule takes precedence?

Here is how rules are applied for a particular element according to my understanding (copy-pasted from another thread but it better belongs here I guess): All applicable show-set rules are gathered, with later rules overwriting previous ones so #show ref: set text(red, weight: "bold") #show ref: set text(blue) will show refs in blue and bold. The element is materialized in accordance with these show-set rules. For example after #show ref: set ref(supplement: [X]) all ref elements with …

@Andrew

The short answer is that show rules are wrappers, that can introduce styling issues later down the road (if you need to style the element further). Which is what you see. Therefore, you should always avoid using show rules and instead use set/show-set/set-if/show-set-if rules, i.e., try something else before making show rule.

[jamesly]

@jamesly

// work as expected.
#set list(indent: 1em)
#show list: set list(indent: 1em)
// Doesn't work on top-level items. Indents children items okay.
#show list: it => [#set list(indent: 1em); #it]

Thanks for the help. I think my question is a bit different because I’m not talking about precedence. I’m not running the 3 codes all together at the same time. I’m running each one one-at-a-time. If I just have this: #show list: it => [#set list(indent: 1em); #it], it only updates the children items, it doesn’t update the top-level items.

[vmartel08]

Hi again,

Please don’t take the title of the cited post into account while reading my reply. I was answering considering each rule used separately as you are describing.

If you read through the post, you will find:

@sijo

Default values are used at the point where the element is materialized. If you change them afterwards it’s too late:

// Works for future heading elements (they are not yet materialized)
#show heading: set heading(outlined: false)

// Doesn't work: the `it` heading is already materialized
#show heading: it => { set heading(outlined: false); it }

// Works: the content of the heading is not yet materialized
#show heading: it => { set text(purple); it }

I believe this is what is happening with your 3rd case, the show list: it => … The it list is already materialized with the default values and the rule is applied afterwards.