When we start using LaTeX, the automatic creation of a table of contents (ToC) is impressive. The ToC with sectioning titles and page numbers is generated from your heading texts in commands such as \part, \chapter, and \section. The lists of figures and tables work in exactly the same way while they use the texts in the \caption command for the list entries. The design of the default table of contents follows a very common style. In some cases, though, you might need to adjust it.
We will use the tocstyle package to customize the table of contents. It belongs to the KOMA-Script bundle. You can try the settings of the recipe in your own document, or use the example from Chapter 1, The Variety of Document Types.