Better to index in Word or Frame?

Subject: Better to index in Word or Frame?
From: "Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2003 09:25:16 -0500


John Posada wonders: <<...one of the projects discussed for my next gig is
to redo the indexing of the documentation. I can do this in either Word or
Frame. Assuming the same level of ability of the person, in your opinion,
which is the better tool to create a better index (easier and more
thorough)?>>

Word lacks a dedicated, built-in indexing tool, and is thus a poor choice
for any significant indexing job. For example, you must insert index entries
as fields, and it's difficult to ensure consistency because you can't pick
existing entries and subentries out of a list. That means lots of time spent
manually editing a printout of the index, then manually entering
corrections. Moreover, as of Word 97 (haven't explored later versions yet),
you can't easily specify "index this item as a page range that extends until
the next heading/style change/page/etc." You have to do this manually using
bookmarks, then use the bookmark as the end of the range. Powerful, perhaps,
but tedious.

I haven't used Frame, but most professional indexers seem to love IXGen and
vastly prefer it over Frame's built-in tools. That being the case, Frame
sounds like a clear win, particularly if you can get IXGen to use with it.

--Geoff Hart, ghart -at- [delete]videotron -dot- ca
Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada
580 boul. St-Jean
Pointe-Claire, Que., H9R 3J9 Canada

"I have always wished that my computer would be as easy to use as my
telephone. My wish has come true. I no longer know how to use my
telephone."--Bjarne Stroustrup (originator of C++ programming language)

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