Hi Clayton, On Tuesday, 19. June 2007 10:04:19 Clayton wrote: > [...] > > In traditional documentation, a good index was important.
I still consider this important, so probably Rebecca is not the only one obsessed by indices. ;) Really good documentation do not just have an index, they create terms what are useful for the readers. > 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. Yes, and that's sometimes really a pity. In short texts, an index isn't really necessary. However, in larger documentation, a good index is a benefit for the reader. > 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 can only speak for myself and for LfL: If you create an indexterm in one of our DocBook sources, it will create an index both in online and print formats. However, apart from the technical side, I consider a really good index still as a kind of an "art". In a project like LfL we haven't defined indexing yet. In book production, indices are created at the very end, and I think LfL makes no exception to that. Many publishers let one person create the index to have a consistent wording. From my perspective, I don't think it makes sense to work on index on LfL now. Nevertheless, if we (as a community) think LfL has reached some "stable" grounds we can implement indexing. So these are just some random thoughts. Best wishes, Tom -- Thomas Schraitle ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SUSE LINUX GmbH >o) Documentation Specialist Maxfeldstrasse 5 /\\ 90409 Nuernberg _\_v http://en.opensuse.org/Documentation_Team --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
