Re: Index entries overlapping

2007-11-05 Thread Helge Hafting

Anthony Campbell wrote:

I find that if I have more than a few index entries for a word they
overrun and are printed on top of other  entries in the adjacent
column. This is in 1.5.2 but it also happened in 1.5.1.  A bug?
  

Strange. Too many index entries merely breaks the
line like this for me:

overindexed: 1,3,5,7,9-11
   13-16, 45, 48, 49, 54, 56

I could prevent this to some extent by changing to a smaller font for
the whole index but I can't seem to do this. Putting latex commands to
change the font after Index at the end of the book doesn't do it. 


Is there a way to alter the size of the text used by the index, or --
even better -- to stop the overlapping in the first place?
  

On the other hand, are you sure you really needs many
entries for one word? This depends a lot on how the index
is used.  For a textbook, note that students usually
only ever look up a few of the entries. They simply don't bother
looking up all of 11 entries. So for such books, try sticking to
a maximum of three or so entries per word. Fewer is better.
That's what my publisher told me, at least.

A word may be mentioned a lot througout a book, but this fact
is usually of no interest to the reader.  The reader usually
wants to look up the one or two _important_ places,
such as the definition and the main explanation. And perhaps
another case. If they have to look up 20 times, then they just
skim through the book because that is less hassle and
almost as fast.

Now, there are exceptions where one really needs lots
of indexes for a word, but make sure you really need that
before you do it.  Don't add lots of indexes just because
you can do it.


Helge Hafting


Re: Index entries overlapping

2007-11-05 Thread Anthony Campbell
On 05 Nov 2007, Helge Hafting wrote:
 Anthony Campbell wrote:
 I find that if I have more than a few index entries for a word they
 overrun and are printed on top of other  entries in the adjacent
 column. This is in 1.5.2 but it also happened in 1.5.1.  A bug?
   
 Strange. Too many index entries merely breaks the
 line like this for me:

 overindexed: 1,3,5,7,9-11
13-16, 45, 48, 49, 54, 56
 I could prevent this to some extent by changing to a smaller font for
 the whole index but I can't seem to do this. Putting latex commands to
 change the font after Index at the end of the book doesn't do it. 
 Is there a way to alter the size of the text used by the index, or --
 even better -- to stop the overlapping in the first place?
   
 On the other hand, are you sure you really needs many
 entries for one word? This depends a lot on how the index
 is used.  For a textbook, note that students usually
 only ever look up a few of the entries. They simply don't bother
 looking up all of 11 entries. So for such books, try sticking to
 a maximum of three or so entries per word. Fewer is better.
 That's what my publisher told me, at least.

 A word may be mentioned a lot througout a book, but this fact
 is usually of no interest to the reader.  The reader usually
 wants to look up the one or two _important_ places,
 such as the definition and the main explanation. And perhaps
 another case. If they have to look up 20 times, then they just
 skim through the book because that is less hassle and
 almost as fast.

 Now, there are exceptions where one really needs lots
 of indexes for a word, but make sure you really need that
 before you do it.  Don't add lots of indexes just because
 you can do it.


 Helge Hafting

I would expect it to break the line but it doesn't seem to, unless I was
doing somethng stupid. However, I take the point about having too many
entries. I'm trying to use subgroups as much as possible and also
indexing concepts, with a range of pages, as much as individual words.

There are occasions when it's useful to have every instance of a word
indexed, which is when you can remember a particular context or phrase
you saw it in and can't find it again. But obviously there are cases
where an important word occurs so many times that it would be
impractical to list all of them.


-- 
Anthony Campbell - [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Microsoft-free zone - Using Linux Gnu-Debian
http://www.acampbell.org.uk (blog, book reviews, 
on-line books and sceptical articles)



Re: Index entries overlapping

2007-11-05 Thread Helge Hafting

Anthony Campbell wrote:

I find that if I have more than a few index entries for a word they
overrun and are printed on top of other  entries in the adjacent
column. This is in 1.5.2 but it also happened in 1.5.1.  A bug?
  

Strange. Too many index entries merely breaks the
line like this for me:

overindexed: 1,3,5,7,9-11
   13-16, 45, 48, 49, 54, 56

I could prevent this to some extent by changing to a smaller font for
the whole index but I can't seem to do this. Putting latex commands to
change the font after Index at the end of the book doesn't do it. 


Is there a way to alter the size of the text used by the index, or --
even better -- to stop the overlapping in the first place?
  

On the other hand, are you sure you really needs many
entries for one word? This depends a lot on how the index
is used.  For a textbook, note that students usually
only ever look up a few of the entries. They simply don't bother
looking up all of 11 entries. So for such books, try sticking to
a maximum of three or so entries per word. Fewer is better.
That's what my publisher told me, at least.

A word may be mentioned a lot througout a book, but this fact
is usually of no interest to the reader.  The reader usually
wants to look up the one or two _important_ places,
such as the definition and the main explanation. And perhaps
another case. If they have to look up 20 times, then they just
skim through the book because that is less hassle and
almost as fast.

Now, there are exceptions where one really needs lots
of indexes for a word, but make sure you really need that
before you do it.  Don't add lots of indexes just because
you can do it.


Helge Hafting


Re: Index entries overlapping

2007-11-05 Thread Anthony Campbell
On 05 Nov 2007, Helge Hafting wrote:
 Anthony Campbell wrote:
 I find that if I have more than a few index entries for a word they
 overrun and are printed on top of other  entries in the adjacent
 column. This is in 1.5.2 but it also happened in 1.5.1.  A bug?
   
 Strange. Too many index entries merely breaks the
 line like this for me:

 overindexed: 1,3,5,7,9-11
13-16, 45, 48, 49, 54, 56
 I could prevent this to some extent by changing to a smaller font for
 the whole index but I can't seem to do this. Putting latex commands to
 change the font after Index at the end of the book doesn't do it. 
 Is there a way to alter the size of the text used by the index, or --
 even better -- to stop the overlapping in the first place?
   
 On the other hand, are you sure you really needs many
 entries for one word? This depends a lot on how the index
 is used.  For a textbook, note that students usually
 only ever look up a few of the entries. They simply don't bother
 looking up all of 11 entries. So for such books, try sticking to
 a maximum of three or so entries per word. Fewer is better.
 That's what my publisher told me, at least.

 A word may be mentioned a lot througout a book, but this fact
 is usually of no interest to the reader.  The reader usually
 wants to look up the one or two _important_ places,
 such as the definition and the main explanation. And perhaps
 another case. If they have to look up 20 times, then they just
 skim through the book because that is less hassle and
 almost as fast.

 Now, there are exceptions where one really needs lots
 of indexes for a word, but make sure you really need that
 before you do it.  Don't add lots of indexes just because
 you can do it.


 Helge Hafting

I would expect it to break the line but it doesn't seem to, unless I was
doing somethng stupid. However, I take the point about having too many
entries. I'm trying to use subgroups as much as possible and also
indexing concepts, with a range of pages, as much as individual words.

There are occasions when it's useful to have every instance of a word
indexed, which is when you can remember a particular context or phrase
you saw it in and can't find it again. But obviously there are cases
where an important word occurs so many times that it would be
impractical to list all of them.


-- 
Anthony Campbell - [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Microsoft-free zone - Using Linux Gnu-Debian
http://www.acampbell.org.uk (blog, book reviews, 
on-line books and sceptical articles)



Re: Index entries overlapping

2007-11-05 Thread Helge Hafting

Anthony Campbell wrote:

I find that if I have more than a few index entries for a word they
overrun and are printed on top of other  entries in the adjacent
column. This is in 1.5.2 but it also happened in 1.5.1.  A bug?
  

Strange. Too many index entries merely breaks the
line like this for me:

overindexed: 1,3,5,7,9-11
   13-16, 45, 48, 49, 54, 56

I could prevent this to some extent by changing to a smaller font for
the whole index but I can't seem to do this. Putting latex commands to
change the font after "Index" at the end of the book doesn't do it. 


Is there a way to alter the size of the text used by the index, or --
even better -- to stop the overlapping in the first place?
  

On the other hand, are you sure you really needs many
entries for one word? This depends a lot on how the index
is used.  For a textbook, note that students usually
only ever look up a few of the entries. They simply don't bother
looking up all of 11 entries. So for such books, try sticking to
a maximum of three or so entries per word. Fewer is better.
That's what my publisher told me, at least.

A word may be mentioned a lot througout a book, but this fact
is usually of no interest to the reader.  The reader usually
wants to look up the one or two _important_ places,
such as the definition and the main explanation. And perhaps
another case. If they have to look up 20 times, then they just
skim through the book because that is less hassle and
almost as fast.

Now, there are exceptions where one really needs lots
of indexes for a word, but make sure you really need that
before you do it.  Don't add lots of indexes just because
you can do it.


Helge Hafting


Re: Index entries overlapping

2007-11-05 Thread Anthony Campbell
On 05 Nov 2007, Helge Hafting wrote:
> Anthony Campbell wrote:
>> I find that if I have more than a few index entries for a word they
>> overrun and are printed on top of other  entries in the adjacent
>> column. This is in 1.5.2 but it also happened in 1.5.1.  A bug?
>>   
> Strange. Too many index entries merely breaks the
> line like this for me:
>
> overindexed: 1,3,5,7,9-11
>13-16, 45, 48, 49, 54, 56
>> I could prevent this to some extent by changing to a smaller font for
>> the whole index but I can't seem to do this. Putting latex commands to
>> change the font after "Index" at the end of the book doesn't do it. 
>> Is there a way to alter the size of the text used by the index, or --
>> even better -- to stop the overlapping in the first place?
>>   
> On the other hand, are you sure you really needs many
> entries for one word? This depends a lot on how the index
> is used.  For a textbook, note that students usually
> only ever look up a few of the entries. They simply don't bother
> looking up all of 11 entries. So for such books, try sticking to
> a maximum of three or so entries per word. Fewer is better.
> That's what my publisher told me, at least.
>
> A word may be mentioned a lot througout a book, but this fact
> is usually of no interest to the reader.  The reader usually
> wants to look up the one or two _important_ places,
> such as the definition and the main explanation. And perhaps
> another case. If they have to look up 20 times, then they just
> skim through the book because that is less hassle and
> almost as fast.
>
> Now, there are exceptions where one really needs lots
> of indexes for a word, but make sure you really need that
> before you do it.  Don't add lots of indexes just because
> you can do it.
>
>
> Helge Hafting

I would expect it to break the line but it doesn't seem to, unless I was
doing somethng stupid. However, I take the point about having too many
entries. I'm trying to use subgroups as much as possible and also
indexing concepts, with a range of pages, as much as individual words.

There are occasions when it's useful to have every instance of a word
indexed, which is when you can remember a particular context or phrase
you saw it in and can't find it again. But obviously there are cases
where an important word occurs so many times that it would be
impractical to list all of them.


-- 
Anthony Campbell - [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Microsoft-free zone - Using Linux Gnu-Debian
http://www.acampbell.org.uk (blog, book reviews, 
on-line books and sceptical articles)



Re: Index entries overlapping

2007-11-04 Thread Anthony Campbell
On 03 Nov 2007, Anthony Campbell wrote:
 I find that if I have more than a few index entries for a word they
 overrun and are printed on top of other  entries in the adjacent
 column. This is in 1.5.2 but it also happened in 1.5.1.  A bug?
 
 I could prevent this to some extent by changing to a smaller font for
 the whole index but I can't seem to do this. Putting latex commands to
 change the font after Index at the end of the book doesn't do it. 
 
 Is there a way to alter the size of the text used by the index, or --
 even better -- to stop the overlapping in the first place?
 
 Anthony
 
[replying to myself]

The font sizes seem to be different for the index. I had tried putting
a Latex command (\small) in before the Index category but this didn't do
anything. However, putting (\footnote) size gives me a smaller font
although not footnotesize. Odd.

Anthony


-- 
Anthony Campbell - [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Microsoft-free zone - Using Linux Gnu-Debian
http://www.acampbell.org.uk (blog, book reviews, 
on-line books and sceptical articles)



Re: Index entries overlapping

2007-11-04 Thread Anthony Campbell
On 03 Nov 2007, Anthony Campbell wrote:
 I find that if I have more than a few index entries for a word they
 overrun and are printed on top of other  entries in the adjacent
 column. This is in 1.5.2 but it also happened in 1.5.1.  A bug?
 
 I could prevent this to some extent by changing to a smaller font for
 the whole index but I can't seem to do this. Putting latex commands to
 change the font after Index at the end of the book doesn't do it. 
 
 Is there a way to alter the size of the text used by the index, or --
 even better -- to stop the overlapping in the first place?
 
 Anthony
 
[replying to myself]

The font sizes seem to be different for the index. I had tried putting
a Latex command (\small) in before the Index category but this didn't do
anything. However, putting (\footnote) size gives me a smaller font
although not footnotesize. Odd.

Anthony


-- 
Anthony Campbell - [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Microsoft-free zone - Using Linux Gnu-Debian
http://www.acampbell.org.uk (blog, book reviews, 
on-line books and sceptical articles)



Re: Index entries overlapping

2007-11-04 Thread Anthony Campbell
On 03 Nov 2007, Anthony Campbell wrote:
> I find that if I have more than a few index entries for a word they
> overrun and are printed on top of other  entries in the adjacent
> column. This is in 1.5.2 but it also happened in 1.5.1.  A bug?
> 
> I could prevent this to some extent by changing to a smaller font for
> the whole index but I can't seem to do this. Putting latex commands to
> change the font after "Index" at the end of the book doesn't do it. 
> 
> Is there a way to alter the size of the text used by the index, or --
> even better -- to stop the overlapping in the first place?
> 
> Anthony
> 
[replying to myself]

The font sizes seem to be different for the index. I had tried putting
a Latex command (\small) in before the Index category but this didn't do
anything. However, putting (\footnote) size gives me a smaller font
although not footnotesize. Odd.

Anthony


-- 
Anthony Campbell - [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Microsoft-free zone - Using Linux Gnu-Debian
http://www.acampbell.org.uk (blog, book reviews, 
on-line books and sceptical articles)