Hi, I always index my work, online help and print, yes. If I am short on time, the index ends up being lighter than I want, good but not insightful, and I can add to it later. I could see that a rally small document, say fewer than 50-60 pages, might not need an index, but I seldom write those.
A TOC and an index are different things, and a TOC is no substitute for an index at all. An index is better than a search, which finds you too many unrelated hits. An index anticipates what the customer wants and provides the reference. An index teaches your audience the vocabulary of your product, how to think about your product, and how to use your book by using See and See alsos. In Word or FrameMaker, I index as I go. Then, if possible, I spend a couple of days (depending on the size of the document) going through and adding and consolidating markers. Then, I spend a half day or so editing the index. The edit has to happen regardless, because if I index as I go, my consistency is not 100%. Cheers, Sean -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Lisa M. Bronson (TCP) Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 9:00 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [TCP] Indexing How many of you do indexing as a part of your job? Where I work, we unfortunately do not index our manuals. My predecessor told me that we have such a detailed Table of Contents that we don't need one. Now, I disagree with that idea, but am faced with the reality that in the 8 years I've worked here, there has only been one time that I haven't been swamped with just keeping up with day-to-day work. What about the rest of you? Do you index your manuals? Have a great week! Lisa B. DISCLAIMER: Important Notice ************************************************* This e-mail may contain information that is confidential, privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure. If you are not an intended recipient of this e-mail, do not duplicate or redistribute it by any means. Please delete it and any attachments and notify the sender that you have received it in error. Unintended recipients are prohibited from taking action on the basis of information in this e-mail.E-mail messages may contain computer viruses or other defects, may not be accurately replicated on other systems, or may be intercepted, deleted or interfered with without the knowledge of the sender or the intended recipient. If you are not comfortable with the risks associated with e-mail messages, you may decide not to use e-mail to communicate with IPC. IPC reserves the right, to the extent and under circumstances permitted by applicable law, to retain, monitor and intercept e-mail messages to and from its systems. ______________________________________________ Are you a Help Authoring Trainer or Consultant? Let clients find you at www.HAT.Matrix.com, the searchable HAT database based on Char James-Tanny's HAT Comparison Matrix. Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] for details. Interested in Interactive 3D Documentation? Get the scoop at http://www.doc-u-motion.com -- your 3D documentation community. _______________________________________________ Technical Communication Professionals Post a message to the list: email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, unsubscribe, archives, account options, list info: http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com Subscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Need help? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Get the TCP whole experience! http://www.techcommpros.com
