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Keith Arnett
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______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: FW: indexing (fwd)
Author: "Robert E. Garland" <robert -at- jtan -dot- com> at INTERNET
Date: 4/15/98 9:02 PM
Chuck Holst wrote (on the RoboHelp list):
>
> I was told in an indexing class last year that there is no such thing
[as good indexing software].
> The reason is that indexing software typically creates an index based only
> on the words that exist in a document, whereas a good index must include
> concepts and synonyms as well. There's no substitute for a thorough
> knowledge of both the material and the reader.
I know from my own experience indexing system software manuals and such
that whenever I did an index, it seemed so much better than the indexes
I tried to use in work done by others. Some of that surely must be ego.
However, remembering from bad experience that I could never find an
item unless I used the single magic word the indexer used, I did my own
indexing by listing every term I could think of that meant the same
thing, then putting in cross-references to the term used in the manual.
The end users really appreciated it. They could find the information
they were seeking with much greater ease. This was a case where a
comprehensive, useful index won out over a short, less useful one.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dimiter Simov [mailto:dsimov -at- code -dot- bg]
> Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 1998 1:59 PM
> To: robolist
> Subject: indexing
>
>
> Can someone suggest a small, and good if possible, indexing software?
>
> Thanks
>
> Dimiter Simov
> dsimov -at- code -dot- bg
--
Robert Garland Amateur Radio Station NX3S
Hilltown Township Bucks County Grid FN20ii
Pennsylvania USA robert -at- jtan -dot- com
