#26025
Indexing Technical Documents: An Interview with Lori Lathrop
Indexes are as important to your documentation as your documentation is to the product. Just as it would be difficult, if not impossible, for people to use your product without any documentation, it is equally difficult for people to use documentation without a good index.
Vega, Barbara. Writing World (2001). Articles>Indexing>Technical Editing
#18547
Because user tasks form the foundation of modern 'task-based' documentation, tasks should be well-represented in the index. We need to create index headings for both the broad objectives of the user (e.g., balancing a cheque book), and the specific actions required by the application (e.g., opening a file).
Brown, Fred. Allegro Time! (2001). Articles>Indexing>User Centered Design
#29419
Indexing Web Pages: Maybe Books Aren't Such a Bad Model After All!
One of our favorite cliches is that you can't use the printed book as a model for online information. Web-based information, which is following the same evolutionary progress as online help systems, has inherited this 'books are bad' philosophy. However, any statement we've begun to take for granted bears some re-examination, because unquestioningly accepting dogma undermines our efforts to improve communication.
Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Geoff-Hart.com (1999). Articles>Information Design>Indexing>Web Design
#10705
Indexing a document is an art in itself. Since Adobe FrameMaker is the program of choice for most companies producing technical documentation, it is worth while to find out how to create an index in FrameMaker.
Kurtus, Ron. School for Champions (2000). Articles>Indexing>Software>Adobe FrameMaker
#18543
Microsoft Word assists you in creating an embedded index. While Microsoft Word makes it easy to enter individual index entries, much effort is still required to create page ranges and to edit the final index.
Brown, Fred. Allegro Time! (2001). Articles>Indexing>Software>Microsoft Word
#27884
Indexing with Open Source Tools 
The index can often be the most heavily used 'chapter' in any publication and helping the user find an answer is the key to fulfilling the technical document's mission, justifying the effort and expense for its creation. Yet, indexing facilities in open source packages for document creation remains largely unexplored, offering a marvelous opportunity to do it right! This article provides a generic specification (with reasons) to open source developers for creating useful indexing facilities in packages such as OpenOffice and Scribus. It also informs writers about what to look for and what to ask for in any indexing tool. Finally, the article demonstrates the need for software developers to work closely with practitioners and users.
Brown, Fred. International Journal for Technical Communication (2006). Articles>Indexing>Software>Open Source
#20192
Although we all agree on the importance of a good index, many technical writers find themselves in the position of having to produce an index in a short amount of time with no training or experience.
Winsberg, Freya Y. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Indexing>Editing
#22408
Since most manuals aren't meant to be read from cover-to-cover like a novel, a method of rapidly accessing a subject is required; in other words, an index. A good index is a vital component in any manual of more than 20 to 30 pages long. An otherwise excellent document can be made next to useless without an index: don't feel tempted to skimp on this valuable but admittedly tedious task. If you have the budget, consider sub-contracting professional indexers to create your index for you: both for your convenience and the excellence of the results.
GaryConroy.com (1992). Articles>Indexing>Documentation
#21573
Indexing: A Step-By-Step Workshop 
This workshop presents a step-by-step methodology for producing thorough, usable indexes for technical documents. The methodology consists of these four steps: 1) Creating entries based on the material; 2) Creating entries based on users' questions; 3) Adding synonyms; and 4) Cross-referencing related entries. The workshop also includes hands-on exercises which illustrate the methodology and give participants a chance to practice using it.
Hash, Christine Milligan. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Indexing>Technical Writing
#18809
Indexing: Consistency Equals User Confidence
Users feel confident if they can find the information they need easily. Indexes are one device users have for finding information. If an index is complete and consistent, users are given the confidence they need.
Henke, Kristine A. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Indexing
#24395
Indexing: Exploring the Issues, Dispelling the Myths
There is widespread confusion, even in the technical communication field, about the real nature and purpose of an index. This is unsettling, because an understanding of the role of the index is vital to those who create information products and also to those using the information products. Consequently, it is important for technical communicators to familiarize themselves with some basic facts about indexing and to dispel the common misconceptions about the purpose, use, and creation of an index.
Collins, William L., Sandra Gallagher and Karen Hamilton. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Indexing
#21482
Italianistica Online: Portale di Studi Italianistici
Da tre anni Italianistica Online seleziona e recensisce le risorse internet per gli studi italianistici, fornendo un servizio gratuito, uno spazio di informazione e approfondimento sulla cultura italiana in rete, cercando di rispecchiare il cambiamento in atto, sollecitando a ragionare e discutere sulle opportunità offerte da Internet per gli studi italianistici. Particolare risalto ha avuto e continua ad avere il Dossier sul libro elettronico e l'editoria digitale umanistica in Italia (in rete dal 2001), insieme alla conferenza telematica sul medesimo tema, che per la prima volta in maniera organica fornisce documenti e spunti di riflessione sui nuovi scenari dell'editoria digitale. Un progetto originale di rilievo è la Bibliotheca Umbra, antologia digitale telematica dei documenti di lingua e dei testi di letteratura prodotti nella regione umbra dalle Origini al Novecento.
Reale, Luigi M. Italianistica Online (2000). (Italian) Articles>Indexing>Literacy>Italy
#22844
The Joy of Indexing: How to Make a Good Document Better
An index is a road map for a document. A good index helps the user find information easily and quickly. It anticipates the user's needs andprovides logical headings and a parallel, consistent structure. Creating an index involves five steps: 1) analyzing the audience; 2) determining the physical appearance and standards of the index; 3) reading and marking the text; 4) producing, editing, andproofing the index; and 5) testing the index for clarity and usability and revising it as necessary.
Gyure, Gloria M.D. and Colleen S. Kelley. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Indexing
#19973
The Joy of Indexing: How to Make a Good Document Better
An index is a road map for a document. A good index helps the user find information easily and quickly. It anticipates the user’s needs and provides logical headings and a parallel, consistent structure. Creating an index involves five steps: 1) analyzing the audience; 2) determining the physical appearance and standards of the index; 3) reading and marking the text; 4) producing, editing, and proofing the index; and 5) testing the index for clarity and usability and revising it as necessary.
Gyure, Gloria M.D. and Colleen S. Kelley. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Indexing>Editing
#18544
Indexing often waits until a document is nearly finalized or “camera ready.” This is because indexers often need to have the final page numbers or the original document files before starting. But, starting the index so late means extending the publication process by several days or even weeks. And the time available to create a quality index — likely the most well-used part of any business or technical publication — can be severely squeezed.
Brown, Fred. Allegro Time! (2001). Articles>Indexing
#18549
Online indexes have the same logical structure as print indexes with main headings and usually subheadings. Some online indexes can also be searched electronically. A search request in Yahoo! returns a list of online category headings. Online indexes, like their print cousins, are true 'searchable structures,' not simply concordance lists of terms appearing in the text.
Brown, Fred. Allegro Time! (2001). Articles>Indexing>Online
#12973
Turn to the index in the back of any O'Reilly book published in the last five years and chances are you're looking at the handiwork of O'Reilly's resident indexing guru, Seth Maislin. Though indexes are the most frequently fingered section of any computer book, they remain the one element most taken for granted. Those ostensibly logical, orderly columns of subject-page references belie the complexity of indexing. The craft of indexing involves much more than the mere alphabetization of a book's key words. It requires something that is at once science and art form, the product of someone painstakingly fleshing out a book's information design while copiously accounting for nuances of language and word associations. You might say an index is like a fingerprint: intricate, revealing, utterly unique.
Houston, Lori. O'Reilly and Associates (2001). Articles>Indexing>Web Design
#18557
Effective documentation is built around the work environment of the user. The index, too, should relate to the work the user performs. As in the body of your documentation, topics in your index should consist primarily of objects, tasks and concepts from the world of the user
Brown, Fred. Allegro Time! (2000). Articles>Indexing>Information Design
#25866
An Overview of Indexing Methods
Indexing is a mystery to many people who are writing and printing materials. An index is an offering to your readers - a way in to your material, a subject finder and a detailed guide to the contents of your piece. Indexing itself is a precise art, with not much real mystery when you get into it deeply.
Wright, Jan C. STC Indexing SIG (1998). Articles>Indexing>Methods
#13823
The Practice of Indexing for Technical Writers
There are scores of books on technical indexing that are really useful in teaching us how to create an index the right way, with the least amount of stress, while keeping up with the documentation development lifecycle. This is, of course, when you do not have the luxury of a full-time indexer. That, so far, has been a dream in the various companies I have worked at and not a very coveted one at that. Usually it is left to the writers to put whatever indexing skills they have into practice. The theory goes that it is best to index as you write. Usually this is feasible, with the embedded indexing features that are provided with packages such as FrameMaker, Word, and so on. But even being an indexing enthusiast, like me, does not always guarantee that this will happen. From experience, you tend to get so caught up in the process of writing, structuring, organising, and reviewing documents, that taking time out to index breaks your train of thought.
Doulton, Melanie. TC-FORUM (2002). Articles>Indexing
#18553
Before starting to write the index, take some time to absorb the overall gist of what’s being said and how things relate one to another.
Brown, Fred. Allegro Time! (2001). Articles>Indexing>Planning
#30339
The Role of Indexing in Technical Communication
The success of a technical document depends heavily on the index. The task of indexing a technical document often cannot begin until insufficient time remains to do a good job. However, for many users of the document, a good index is mandatory to its usability.
Northrop, Mary Jane. Boston Broadside (1993). Articles>Editing>Indexing
#18556
'See also' cross-references assist the user to quickly navigate to the right index term. The same principles that apply to 'See also' cross-references apply equally to hypertext linking. 'See also' cross-references are constructed using the following relationships: a broader term to a narrower term, e.g. 'mammals, See also whales'; sailing craft, See also hulls overlapping meaning between two terms, e.g. 'gold, See also money'
Brown, Fred. Allegro Time! (2000). Articles>Indexing>Editing
#14492
Many publishers of technical material are now publishing in more than one format, e.g. print, Adobe Acrobat (PDF), HTML, HTML Help and XML. Typically, a master document is first created in a package such as Adobe FrameMaker or Microsoft Word. The master document is then converted into different formats for publishing. Indexes are often the Achilles heel of such a process, because indexes can rarely be converted like regular material. Indexes usually have to be regenerated or recreated within the new format rather than simply converted from an existing file.
Brown, Fred. Allegro Time! (2002). Articles>Indexing>Single Sourcing
#20136
Six Steps to Producing an Index
If something does not appear in the index, it might as well not be in the book because the reader may never find it. Writing a complete index takes time and patience. Writing an index that is consistent and effective requires refinement and common sense. Here are six steps that will get you through the process.
Winsberg, Freya Y. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Indexing>Editing
