ol start with a specific number?

[Waylan Limberg]

We recently received a request and working patch for Python-Markdown
which adds support for starting an ordered list with the number given
on the first line. For example:

    3. Foo
    4. Bar

would result in

    <ol>
    <li start="3">Foo</li>
    <li>Bar</li>
    </ol>

I'm not opposed to adding this, but I noticed that no other
implementation (of those on Babelmark) implements this by default (not
counting Pandoc's extended mode). I haven't checked if other
implementations offer this as an option.

My question is: should this be an option to turn on and off, and if
so, should it be on or off by default?

JG states in the docs:


> If you do use lazy list numbering, however, you should still start

> the list with the number 1. At some point in the future, Markdown

> may support starting ordered lists at an arbitrary number.


Given that statement, it would seem that on by default and without an
option to turn if off would be fine. But what is the reality in the
real world? If I did that, would a bunch of documents suddenly start
rendering incorrectly - or at least different that expected? I guess
the real question is: has everyone been ignoring that piece of advice
in the docs and if so, is this something we should care about as
implementors?

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Waylan Limberg