numbered list bug in markdown.pl?

[Jacob Rus]

John Gruber wrote:

> A. Pagaltzis <pagaltzis at gmx.de> wrote on 7/13/06 at 5:45 AM:

>> But I don't have documents any that rely on tiny indentation to

>> mark up nested lists. There is nothing in the docs that specifies

>> the behaviour of this case in detail. In fact I was surprised by

>> the actual behaviour.

>>

>> So I would argue that there is room to tweak the indentation

>> rules, but none to tweak the numbering requirements. I would

>> instead suggest that to start a nested list, the marker be

>> required to be indented at least three spaces more than the

>> preceeding item.

> 

> I agree. Why three though? It "feels" like a reasonable number,

> but four spaces is the magic cut-off point in all the other places

> where indentation matters in Markdown.


Instead of basing the amount of indentation on the exact beginning of 
the previous item, I would prefer that each tab or 4 spaces correspond 
to one  level of indentation.  Thus

   - 0-3 spaces = top level
   - 4-7 spaces = 2nd level
   - 8-11 spaces = 3rd level, etc.

Then if an item is indented more than this, it is considered a code block.

So this:

     1. a list
       2. 2nd item
      3. third item
        4. fourth item
         - sublist
            - in same sublist
          - still on item 4
       5. back to top-level

turn into this:

     <ol>
     <li>a list</li>
     <li>2nd item</li>
     <li>third item</li>
     <li>fourth item
     <ul>
     <li>sublist</li>
     <li>in same sublist</li>
     <li>still on item 4</li>
     </ul></li>
     <li>back to top-level</li>
     </ol>

instead of what we currently get:

     <ol>
     <li>a list
     <ol>
     <li>2nd item</li>
     <li>third item</li>
     <li>fourth item</li>
     <li>sublist
     <ul>
     <li>in same sublist</li>
     <li>still on item 4</li>
     </ul></li>
     <li>back to top-level</li>
     </ol></li>
     </ol>

Obviously this is more ragged than we hope real-life lists will be, but 
by keeping stops to 4 spaces, I think we most closely stick to John's 
official spec, and keep things as unambiguous as possible.

-Jacob Rus