Re: Learning to index my own project

Subject: Re: Learning to index my own project
From: "Stuart Burnfield" <slb -at- westnet -dot- com -dot- au>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:18:36 +0900

Hi Jennifer. I don't know RoboHelp but if the Smart Index
feature is what it sounds like, you're right not to trust it.
The only "smart indexes" are those created by smart people
who know what they're doing. Anything automatically generated
from headings and key phrases is at best a concordance, at
worst a "dumb index" or "no index" or "frustrating and
annoying index".

The Nancy Mulvany book is really good, though it's probably
more aimed at someone planning a career in traditional
back-of-book indexing.

"Read me First! A Style Guide for the Computer Industry"
(http://www.sun.com/books/catalog/sun_tech_pub.xml)
has a good longish chapter on indexing.

Stuart

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