On Tuesday 19 June 2007 10:04, Clayton wrote: > This is just a general question about indexing. I am working on a > large document that is being ported over to Wiki format. One of the > printed doc features that has fallen off with the port to Wiki is the > index. > > In traditional documentation, a good index was important. As we move > more and more away from traditional doc techniques and go to web based > docs we rely on search engines to fill the gap where indexes and index > tagging (in traditional tools like Framemaker) are missing. > > How important are people finding the index in newer doc methods? What > can be done to fill that missing indexes for online docs? Especially > for online docs (such as Wiki) that can be converted to PDF to deliver > a traditional book for people who prefer to read off line? >
I'm the index obsessed doku-wichtl. The lack of indexing drives me crazy. Searching turns up every reference to a word, but doesn't focus on what is important. This is why we use XML for our docs so our PDFs can still have indexes. I still have a dream of somehow making a compiled index for our product manuals so you could look one place and find the info that shows up in any book, but that has extra challenges in term selection. However, the Novell documentation team skips indexing, considering it unnecessary for online docs. So opinions differ. If you believe in indexing, you try to index properly and use a format that supports it. If you don't, you don't bother even if you use a format that supports it. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
