Table numbers restart using \ContinuedFloat

Question

Okay, I am really new at LaTeX so I may be screwing up terribly, but here's my problem. I'm writing a paper with several tables, one of which is in three parts, so I'm using \ContinuedFloat from the caption package to try to get correct captions.

What I want is the first table to be Table 1, then to have Table 2a, 2b, 2c. Instead, I get Table 1 and then Table 1a, Table 1b, Table 1c. Here's what I have (I apologize if it isn't enough, I'm not quite sure what you need!)

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[demo]{graphicx}
\usepackage{caption}
\DeclareCaptionLabelFormat{cont}{#1˜#2\alph{ContinuedFloat}}
\captionsetup[ContinuedFloat]{labelformat=cont}
\usepackage[]{subfig}
\begin{document}

\begin{table}[!htbp]
\centering
\includegraphics{plachit.jpg}
\caption{}
\label{plachit}
\end{table}

\begin{table}[!htbp]\ContinuedFloat
\centering
\subfloat[]{\includegraphics{kisel1.jpg}}
\caption{Tier 1}
\label{kisel1}
\end{table}

\begin{table}[!htbp]\ContinuedFloat
\centering
\subfloat[]{\includegraphics{kisel2.jpg}}
\caption{Tier 2}
\label{kisel2}
\end{table}

\begin{table}[!htbp]\ContinuedFloat
\centering
\subfloat[]{\includegraphics{kisel3.jpg}}
\caption{Tier 3}
\label{kisel3}
\end{table}

\end{document}

I wasn't using subfloat at first, but from looking around trying to find an answer, it seemed like other people were. Not exactly sure if it's necessary.

Answer 1

I suspect that using the \ContinuedFloat method of the caption package may constitute a bit of abuse of that method. To my understanding, the ContinuedFloat method is intended to be used in cases where a single "float" (such as a figure or table) doesn't fit on one page and the need arises to link the two (or more) separate parts using some recognizable terminology. In your case, in contrast, I can't discern what is supposed to link Table 1 to Table 2 (which happens to come in three parts). If your Table 2 ends up being too large to fit on a single page, you may want to consider limiting the use of \ContinuedFloat instructions to just that table.

Since you appear to have two main tables ("floats", in LaTeX parlance), one of which has three components (or "tiers", as you call them), you may want to use the subcaption package and its subtable environment. Note that it's possible to assign captions to (and hence cross-reference) the sub-tables individually.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[demo]{graphicx}
\usepackage{subcaption}
\begin{document}

\begin{table}[!htbp]
\caption{A single-tiered table}
\centering
\includegraphics{plachit.jpg}
\label{plachit}
\end{table}

\begin{table}[!htbp]
\caption{A table with three tiers}
\begin{subtable}{1\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=1.5in]{kisel1.jpg}
\caption{Tier 1} \label{kisel1}
\end{subtable}

\begin{subtable}{1\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=2.5in]{kisel2.jpg}
\caption{Tier 2}
\label{kisel2}
\end{subtable}

\begin{subtable}{1\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=3.5in]{kisel3.jpg}
\caption{Tier 3}
\label{kisel3}
\end{subtable}
\end{table}
\end{document}