Re: Page ranges in an index

[Penelope Perkins <pperkins -at- SYNERGEX -dot- COM>]

Amy,

In manuals with section page numbering, I've always used 'to' to
indicate the range (e.g., 2-4 to 2-13). But I work in Frame, where it is
very easy to choose whatever darn thing you want for a separator. And,
depending on the content and the context, it can be important to
indicate a range of pages.

How about writing a macro to change the '--' to 'to'?

Penelope


Amy Medici wrote:
>
>      This thread made me rethink my approach but after discussion with a
>      coworker and review of other companys' indexes, we decided the current
>      method works.
>
>      Our indexes only list the first page in a range.  This keeps the
>      appearance simple since, our page numbers include the chapter number.
>      For example, page 1 of section 2 displays as 2-1.  To include a range,
>      I should change the separator between chapter and page number.
>      Microsoft Word's default index generates 2-1--2-4 which looks
>      confusing at first.  I could change the chapter/page number separator
>      to a period (which could be confused with our version numbers) or to a
>      colon (which I do not use anywhere else).
>
>      Also, I looked through a few manuals and found the use of page ranges
>      verses first page in a range evenly split.
>
>      I'm curious to hear how others with a chapter-page number numbering
>      method format their indexes.  There was only one company that had the
>      chapter-page number numbering method that included a page range in
>      their index.  They used the word 'to' to indicate the range.  I did
>      not think the extra text in my index would benefit the reader enough
>      to and offset the loss of white space and time spent adding bookmarks
>      and manually changing the default '--' to 'to'.
>
>      As we usually say, consistency is key.
>
>      Amy Medici
>      Technical Writer
>      amy -dot- medici -at- harpercollins -dot- com
>      ____________

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Penelope Perkins                          mailto:pperkins -at- synergex -dot- com
Technical Writer                          http://www.synergex.com
Synergex                                  Sacramento, California

I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with
the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that
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        -The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957

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