#18555
Formatting your index attractively can improve readability and help your audience to locate information quickly. The following tips apply to printed indexes.
Brown, Fred. Allegro Time! (2000). Articles>Indexing>Information Design
#27641
A recent article in the Society for Technical Communications' Intercom magazine proclaimed that indexing is on the rise (Seth Maislin, "The Indexing Revival," February, 2005), and that there is a renaissance of work in the field. But at the WritersUA March Conference, Microsoft's Longhorn features session declared that Longhorn's Help system will not contain an index, because "no one uses it." Then, to add to the discussion, at that same conference Apple revealed that their next help engine will include synonym rings and will add a form of indexing back into their display. Who's right? Who's correctly predicting the trends?
Wright, Jan C. WritersUA (2004). Articles>Indexing
#18306
An index pulls together all the references to a topic that are scattered within a publication. If a reference is omitted, the user may assume that particular sub-topic is not discussed.
Brown, Fred. Allegro Time! (2002). Articles>Indexing>Editing
#23565
Good Online Indexing: It Doesn't Happen Automatically 
Indexing online information is a key skill for online information developers, yet not much information exists on how to do it right. After defining online indexing and briefly presenting the research the authors were involved in, the article provides all the key ingredients for creating a good, searchbased online index.
Berry, Robert R., Ralph Earle and Michelle Corbin Nichols. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Indexing>Online
#18548
The American Society of Indexers identifies criteria for measuring a great index. An index is not an inverted table of contents, nor is it a simple listing of where certain terms appear in a document. An index consists of a 'compiled list of topics covered in the work, prepared with the reader’s needs in mind.'
Brown, Fred. Allegro Time! (2001). Articles>Indexing>Assessment
#27201
How Do I Generate an Index in Word?
The Microsoft Word Help suggests that you can automatically generate an index. Sorry, but you can't (the 'result' looks like an index, but the reader can't use it). You can automatically mark index entries: however, the amount of work required to edit the result into a usable index is usually double the effort required to manually mark the index entries one-by-one.
McGhie, John. Word MVP Site, The (2005). Articles>Word Processing>Indexing>Microsoft Word
#24069
How to Edit an Index: A Workshop
Editing an index involves much more than just proofreading and checking for correct page number references. An experienced index editor will clarify and refine categories; combine, add, or delete subentries; and create meaningful cross-references. Knowing what flaws to look for in an index and understanding how to correct them will help you significantly improve the usability of your document (whether paper or electronic) and make it easier for your readers to locate quickly the relevant information they need.
Collins, William L. and Karen J. Hamilton. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Indexing
#22407
In the publishing process, as in the finished book, the index comes last. It cannot be created until pages have been laid out and finalized. By this time everyone, including the author, is (1) tired and (2) worried about the publication deadline. First-time non-fiction authors who had acceded blithely to doing their own index now quail at the task they've undertaken—and, more often than not, underestimated.
Rodberg, Lillian R. GaryConroy.com (1992). Articles>Indexing>Marketing
#30507
Indexing a software manual is not very different from indexing any other manual. As a simple rule, make sure you index all of the software features: screens, windows, fields, options and commands. Index system errors and warnings if applicable. Use cross-references to direct the reader to the term used in the manual if it differs from the generally-used jargon.
Tetreault, Edouard. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Documentation>Indexing
#14490
Acronyms and initialisms pepper the workplace conversation in many technical and scientific environments. If you’re new to the organization or industry, the many unknown acronyms can be a real barrier to comprehending anything at all. Published books and technical documentation often spell out the full term when first used and then employ the acronym only. As indexers we need to serve both the “newbies,” who find the acronyms confusing, and the “old hands,” who dream only in acronyms.
Brown, Fred. Allegro Time! (2002). Articles>Indexing
#25867
Indexing America Online (Part One)
Indexing America Online was the most absurdly daunting project I had ever faced. This article is the story of that contract.
Maislin, Seth A. STC Indexing SIG (1998). Articles>Indexing>Online>Search
#25869
Indexing America Online (Part Two)
To deal with AOL's size, I contracted others to help me with 'the dirty work' of typing search words in the database records. At the height of the project, four people worked in a large room at open desks. Although I was in charge of the project, most of the nitty gritty was accomplished by two other individuals. Following my lead, they reviewed each of the AOL pages, decided the important concepts of each area, and chose representative vocabulary. With their assistance and the involvement of several Songline employ- ees, the project took under one year, from the initial planning stages through testing, review, and summary. In theory, then, AOL's size could be conquered by allowing enough time to complete the project and contracting enough indexers to do the work.
Maislin, Seth A. STC Indexing SIG (1998). Articles>Indexing>Online>Search
#27353
An index is a systematic arrangement of entries designed to enable users to locate information in a document. Entries consist of important names, concepts, and terms. Entries are ordered differently than in the text and are not an outline of the text. A good index reflects the text accurately and anticipates the reader's viewpoint.
#24227
Indexing for Your Audience: Writing Indexes that Work
The frazzled reader scans your text, anxiously looking for the key word or phrase that will unravel the mystery of a less-than-helpful graphical user interface. Reaching for coffee that immediately slops onto the keyboard, the reader then resorts to desperate measures and opens your index. A quick scan of the entries confirms the reader's worst fears. The index is no help. The reader gives up, calls the Technical Support Help Desk, and relegates your carefully crafted documentation to the floor next to the recycle bin. The above scenario shows that a usable index is a key documentation component that too often receives little or no thought on the part of the writer.
Bratun, Jane. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Indexing>Audience Analysis
#18558
Indexing in FrameMaker: Challenges and Opportunities
Indexing in FrameMaker can feel frustrating and time-consuming — especially when under the pressure of a deadline.
Brown, Fred. Allegro Time! (2000). Articles>Indexing>Software>Adobe FrameMaker
#19977
Indexing in the Documentation Process: Which Methods Do You Choose?
Giving your readers a quality index takes a careful consideration of the tools, time frame, workgroup process, and results you plan for the piece. Planning for the index must start at the beginning of the project, in order to have the essential processes clear to all involved As the documentation process itself becomes more complex, trying to meet different needs in different environments, so does indexing. As print-based documentation moves to online, the index or keywords becomes critical to your users. In this session, participants will learn what kinds of tools are available for indexing, the benefits of each, what the stages of indexing are, and the amount of time to allow for each.
Wright, Jan C. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Documentation>Indexing
#15144
Relates how the author and her coworkers proceeded when faced with a daunting indexing task.
Kadilak, Denise. Intercom (2001). Articles>Indexing
#14493
Handling personal and geographic names can be complicated. Many rules apply to personal names.
Brown, Fred. Allegro Time! (2002). Articles>Indexing
#21209
Online indexing has great potential as a tool for information retrieval, although current online indexes are not always well used. Research and experience indicate that online indexing can be most effective if it is approached as a combination of traditional indexing and using computer search capabilities. Typical search facilities have great power but tend to rely on complex algorithms or else retrieve more information than users can effectively sort through. Traditional indexing techniques serve as a filter for concepts to limit searches to information that users will actually find valuable. To take full advantage of search facilities, online indexes can be designed with a flat (nonhierarchical) structure in which each index entry is clearly worded and makes use of keywords from the subject matter. Indexers can include additional keywords as synonyms that point to the relevant index entries. When indexers take advantage of these concepts and when index users clearly understand what to expect from online indexes, the the indexes become an extremely powerful retrieval medium.
Earle, Ralph, Robert R. Berry and Michelle Corbin Nichols. Technical Communication Online (1996). Articles>Indexing>Online
#23020
Indexing Online: The New Face of an Old Art
What happens to a book index when you remove the page numbers? It's called 'indexing online.'
Maislin, Seth A. Hyperviews Online (1999). Articles>Indexing>Online
#23387
Indexing Problems? Let's Discuss Them!
The basic principle of indexing is still valid: key words in an index must point end users to pertinent information concepts. This is even more important with on-line documents.
Dunning, Marilyn A. TC-FORUM (1997). Articles>Indexing
#25871
A series of questions and answers about indexing.
Mauer, Peg. STC Indexing SIG (1999). Articles>Indexing
#30508
Indexing Standards and Usability Tests
This paper provides reference information and complements the demonstration: 'Using Indexing Standards and Usability Tests' by Deborah Swain and Rebecca Oliver. Information covered in the paper includes historical background on indexing and on the ANSI Z39.4 standard for indexes. Questions about the effectiveness of standards are discussed. In addition, the paper describes one way to conduct a usability test on a back-of-the-book index: random analysis. (Three testing methods will be explained in the demonstration.)
Swain, Deborah E. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Editing>Indexing>Usability
#21380
If a document contains the information that a reader needs, but if the reader cannot find that information, then the document is useless. Worse than useless, it’s a hindrance. If I know that some information is not available, I won’t waste my time looking for it. However, if I think the information is available, and if I can’t find it after a period of fruitless searching, all I will have achieved is frustration.
Mike Unwalla. TechScribe (2004). Articles>Indexing>Technical Editing
#30509
Creating an index for a technical manual requires an understanding of what constitutes a high-quality index and the indexing methodology. This workshop presents the methodologies and steps necessary to create such an index.
Bonura, Larry S. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Documentation>Indexing
