Printed total: a list that counts itself
A printed total is a count stated on the same page as the list it counts. It is the only shape that lets a reader both search for their market and quote a figure, and it appears once among the vendors read here. As of 2026-09-22.
| Shape | Search for a market | Quote a figure |
|---|---|---|
| A list with its total printed | Yes | Yes |
| A list with no total | Yes | By counting |
| A count with a list elsewhere | Only if found | Yes |
| A count alone | No | Yes, unverifiably |
Inclusion rule. The shapes of disclosure present among the vendors read here, ordered by what each one lets a reader do. Order. Most useful first.
1The cheapest improvement any vendor here could make
Counting a published list takes minutes once. Leaving it uncounted pushes that work onto every reader, and produces a figure nobody else can confirm was taken from the same list on the same day.
Four vendors in this register publish lists. One of them prints totals. The other three could close the gap in an afternoon, which is worth saying because it is not a product limitation.
2A printed total is falsifiable, which is the point
A total over a visible list can be checked and found wrong. That is a feature: a claim that can be contradicted by its own page is a claim somebody had to be careful about.
A plus figure over no list cannot be contradicted by anything. Between the two, the falsifiable one is worth more even when it is smaller, and this register quotes it where both are present.
3Splitting the total is better still
The one vendor here that prints totals prints two, one for languages and one for dialects. That answers the question a single mixed figure hides: how much of the length is variants of languages already present.
Elsewhere in this register a table of a hundred and forty-three rows spends fourteen of them on one language and its regional variants. A split total makes that visible without anyone having to read every row.
A definition, not a measurement: no vendor figure appears here that is not also in the register. Which vendors print their own totals is recorded on the cells themselves.
Nearby terms: Plus figure, Per-job cap. The whole vocabulary is at terms; nothing on this page is a claim about a named product.