Yesterday I could swear the horizontal spacing between the end of the item-label (a number followed by dot) of a numbered-list and the item-text following that label is 5.2pt, although the output (\showoutput log) shows 5.0. After running some tests today, it's (surprisingly) not 5.2pt but 5.05. Considering today's code was not a copy of yesterday's (which cannot be recovered by now, unfortunately), most likely explanation is changes in the code. However, 5.05pt is still not 5.0. That's one issue I would like a feedback from you about.
The second issue is that there's no length macro I know of that defines the spacing in question (between a list-label and its item) while such macros are usually available for adjustment (so I can't adjust the spacing of the list).
Now let's go through the following demonstration.
\documentclass[varwidth]{standalone}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\setmainfont{Georgia}
\showoutput
\begin{document}
\begin{enumerate}
\item{}hello
\end{enumerate}
1.\ hello
\newlength\spaceWidth
\settowidth{\spaceWidth}{\ }
\the\spaceWidth % 2.41211pt
\end{document}
...........\TU/Georgia(0)/m/n/10 1.
.........\glue 5.0
........\penalty 0
........\TU/Georgia(0)/m/n/10 hello
........\TU/Georgia(0)/m/n/10 1.
........\glue 2.41211 plus 1.20605 minus 0.80403
........\TU/Georgia(0)/m/n/10 hello
(Space of 2.41211pt is less than glue of 5.0pt.)
Replace 1.\ hello
with 1.\makebox[5.0pt]{}hello
(and remove \the\spaceWidth
):
\begin{enumerate}
\item{}hello
\end{enumerate}
1.\makebox[5.0pt]{}hello
...........\TU/Georgia(0)/m/n/10 1.
.........\glue 5.0
........\penalty 0
........\TU/Georgia(0)/m/n/10 hello
........\TU/Georgia(0)/m/n/10 1.
........\hbox(0.0+0.0)x5.0, glue set 2.5fil
.........\glue 0.0 plus 1.0fil minus 1.0fil
.........\glue 0.0 plus 1.0fil minus 1.0fil
........\TU/Georgia(0)/m/n/10 hello
Perfect (so far)!
Now remove \setmainfont{Georgia}
:
Obviously, 5.0pt is NOT enough.
Let's try 5.05pt: replace 1.\makebox[5.0pt]{}hello
with 1.\makebox[5.05pt]{}hello
:
Perfect.
What's your take on it? Thank you.
\labelsep
.