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Subject:Re: an indexing question From:"Huber, Mike" <mrhuber -at- SOFTWARE -dot- ROCKWELL -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 15 Jun 1998 09:47:14 -0400
Well, I tend index both the way you describe, and as
Eggbeaters
Color
...
Forks
Color
The nice thing about an index is that you can provide multiple paths to the
same information.
I've found that running an index through a usability lab is extremely
valuable. Watching somebody use your index can be a strange experience.
I would probably have a section about color, and I don't think it would just
be an index target. It seems to me that anything that is a natural index
target (like "Color" here) is probably something the reader wants to know
about. If the reader is going to look up color, write about color. At the
very least, you should probably mention that the color information is all
the same, or that it divides into metal and plastic colors, or ...
Some writers use the index to start the design process for a document. It
sounded weird the first time I heard of it, but when you watch people try to
use your documents, you realize the index is the most important section. If
the reader doesn't find the information in the index, it might as well not
be in the book.
---
Office:
mike -dot- huber -at- software -dot- rockwell -dot- com
Home:
nax -at- execpc -dot- com
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark L. Levinson [SMTP:mark -at- memco -dot- co -dot- il]
>
...
> Should I list it this way?--
>
> Color
> of eggbeaters 7
> of forks 12
> of toasters 18
> of woks 22
> etc. etc.
>
> That takes a lot of space and may falsely imply that the
> information is substantially different from occurrence to
> occurrence.
>
> Should I list it just once? The first occurrence, perhaps?
>
> Color 7
>
> That could imply that the characteristic doesn't exist in
> other places.
>
> Should I burden the book with a section describing common
> characteristics, merely to serve as an index target?
