Automated Table of Contents - DTP - Articles about Computing

DTP: Numbering Pages, Part 16: Automated Tables of Contents.

Word processors and desktop publishing programs can prepare an automated table of contents and index.

Both the contents and the index must refer to specific pages in your magnum opus. When your document is edited, these page numbers may change, so it is necessary to re-index it.

The automated table of contents is easier to understand and to prepare than the automated index. Your program copies the title of each section, chapter, or unit to a specified page in the beginning of the book, and then automatically inserts the appropriate page number.

The page title is on one side of the page and the page number is on the other side. You can easily make a mistake when you scan your eye across the page to read the page number. Some visually challenged people may see the number above or below what which is intended. Remember those matching quizzes in school? You were asked to link concepts or words on a left column with those on a right column. There was no way to track those lines or to check that paper. It was a mess.

You want your table of contents to be better. For this reason, the page number is connected to the title by a "dot leader." A series of dots "leads" your eye from the last word in the title to the correct page number.

You can create this effect yourself with the tab settings in your word processor. Adjust your tab settings so that they create tab leaders and then select the format that matches your taste. Thus, that tab leader could be an underline or a series of dots, and the dots can have different weights. Use the Tab key to create a dotted or solid line to the column with the numbers.

The next installment in this series will deal with automated indexes.