FOSI: aligning list item numbers on the decimal point?

Questions:

So I've taken your example and values and they work good for text in the body of my document.

I'm now trying to format a sequenced list inside a table and I don't want to have the indent be so deep. I'm trying to figure out the relationship between the values so I can cut them down. I've been trying to apply some logic and subtract an em or 2 from the leading space and I'm not scceeding. So the XML looks like:

<number-list1>

<item1>step content here</item1>

<item1>step content here</item1>

</number-list1>

number-list1 eic has block set with leftind = @+2em rightind=@+2em and firstln=*-2em

item1 eic has block leftind=@1.75em with a usetext of:

"spacefill, intem1ct, \.\, 0.5em, @3.75em" placed before

So it looks like I get the 3.75em in the use text by adding the leftind from number-list1 and the leftind of item1

Overall the width of this number area has to support the number of digits I expect, a period and .5 em of space, so I can only reduce the 3.75 but the difference in my max number and this overall indent, correct? The negative firstln on numer-list1 does what in this setup? Seems like it should be on item1 but it isn't.

I've been trying to tweak these values and haven't come up with the right combination. Some cases I get too much indent other cases I can't seem to affect the space between the number and the item content to get it to align with the second line of content when wrapped. I get to like half a chacater width on that alignment but then usually don't get the numbers to align properly.

Editorial comments:

I know that these excerpts are out of context so maybe the whole publicaton handles this. You use lots of style sets to make the code shorter but they are not displayed with the FOSI samples. It would be good to have an appendix with all the styles listed so they could be quickly looked up. spacefill was the one that caught me in the right-aligned example. Here the use of it is actually highlighted but there is no definition provided (or explanation of how it works or why needed).

Same right-aligned example uses the *-2em. The * is not explained i this section like the +, -, and @ symbols are - maybe covered in an earlier section?

The examples are great, but it is hard sometimes determining the actual intent of the code. Seems like the code is maybe doing some extra things that aren't directly required for the task. For instance I see a rightind=@+2em being used. on the eic for number-list1. This seems like it is "extra sugar" to indent the right side of list items - true? If it is to just do that indent than it is extra in terms of the particular example where I'm primarily worried about getting the decimal points aligned. Some sort of written explanation of all the formatting being applied or a figure that shows what the values are affecting would be great. So in this case it might say something like

List level 1 (number-list1) indented 2em from paragraph margin, righ side indented 2em as well

item1 formatted with space fill, couner value, period, required .5em space and aligned at 1.75 em

This relates to my question above where I'm trying to figure out the relationship of the values