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Subject:Re: Index vs. Search From:Chris Borokowski <athloi -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Mon, 10 Sep 2007 07:18:00 -0700 (PDT)
Good points. Much as on the web, indexes and search engines serve
different functions, and so you as the writer must know what your
readers expect. Indexes like Yahoo are good for people trying to get a
general feel of an established topic by reading background information,
but search engines are the fastest method to find specific data on a
sub-set of that topic.
--- Ned Bedinger <doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com> wrote:
> I agree, given a typical help file or electronic documentation, full
> text searching (FTS) is the only tool of value. Indexes these days,
> and
> even hyperlinked indexed, are mostly there for appearances, and are
> not
> developed systematically or thoroughly. If they were well developed,
> that would be a different fantasy, but as things exist today,
> fuggedaboutit, most of them are too mickey mouse to be useful.
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