Re: Index entries for glossary terms

["David M. Brown" <dmbrown -at- BROWN-INC -dot- COM>]

"Brierley, Sean" wrote:
>
> If a glossary term is minor and has no major significance,
> then I do not index it. ...
>
> If a glossary term is important to a topic of great importance ...
> I would index it ...

I prefer to offer the consistency of indexing all the terms--and in hypertext, it's not a matter of saving paper or limiting page count.

I also include "glossary" and "definitions" as index entries.  Depending on the delivery format, these may display all terms (in the Topics Found dialog box) or simply link to the top of the glossary.

>
> Typically, indices take me several days to plan and create; they are not a
> light task. Also, I can expect that reviewers and SMEs skip the index, even
> though I specifically ask for a review of it.

I suppose we've been lucky, in that most of our clients allow plenty of time for indexing.  On a particularly large help file for a very complicated application, we've had as much as three weeks between "end of writing" and "hand over to manufacturing" to get the index drafted and reviewed.

--David

=============================
 David M. Brown - Brown Inc.
    dmbrown -at- brown-inc -dot- com
=============================

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