inconsistent spacing at start of "dot" tab leader

[Cory]

Is there anyway to make the spacing at the start of a "dot" tab leader more
consistent in a table of contents?

My problem looks something like this (see below) and seems to depend on the
characters used in each line in the table of contents that precede the tab
header. Note: No periods were used following each line, so my guess is that
it has something to do with where the tab starts following the last character
in each heading- but I don't know how to fix this.

Abstract: ...................................i
List of Tables:...........................iv

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

This is a problem with all tab leaders (much more noticeable in underline
leaders, which are created with fixed-width underline characters). In
ordinary circumstances, adding a space before the leader somewhat
camouflages the problem, but that's not practical for TOCs (you'd have to
add the space to the headings, where it might or might not be honored--would
probably have to be a nonbreaking space). As for underline leaders, I've
about given up on them and use an underlined tab character instead. You
could use this technique (using a dotted underline style) in handmade TOCs,
but of course for those that are automatically generated, that's no help.