by Lori Lathrop, Lathrop Media Services

Webmaster note In Part 2 of this two-part series, Lori answers the following questions:

• Why do we need an index when we have full-text search?
  
• What is "topic analysis?"
  
• How do you distinguish between significant information and passing
  references? In other words, how do you determine what is "indexable" and
  what's not?
  
• What do you mean by "meaningful cross-references?"
  
• How can an index resolve differences in terminology?
  
• How can we determine the usability of an index?
  

by Lori Lathrop, Lathrop Media Services
Webmaster note In Part 1 of this two-part series, Lori answers the following questions:

• I need to convince my manager that our documentation needs indexes. Give me some ammunition to do that.
  
• How big does a book have to be before it requires an index?
  
• How big should the index be?
  
• How long does it take to create an index?
  
• When is the best time to create an index?
  
• What do you mean by "multiple access points for every useful nugget of information?"
  
• Is it better to have a skimpy index than to have no index at all?
  
• Can you recommend an automatic indexing tool?