Re: Index

Subject: Re: Index
From: Richard Shrout <rsshrout -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: Techwr-l <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2015 12:07:37 -0400

I am trying to reply to the thread here on indexing started by Kari. I keep
a very low profile here so I am not sure if I am replying correctly.

First I wanted to let you know that I am here and reading messages if you
have questions on indexing. My company website is potomacindexing.com

And I also wanted to let you know that there is a lot of information about
indexing at the website of the American Society for Indexing.

Here is an example:
http://www.asindexing.org/wp-content/uploads/legacy/files/DTTF/IDPFIndex_functionality_in_ePub.pdf

This is a great thread.

Richard Shrout
Founding Partner
Potomac Indexing, LLC

On Thu, Oct 22, 2015 at 11:57 AM, Rick Stone <rstone75 -at- kc -dot- rr -dot- com> wrote:

> +1 on the reply!
>
> In addition to what Elissa said, I'll add that the very existence of a
> well constructed Index helps in the way it operates.
>
> With Search, not only do you have to know the right key words, but you
> have to fully type them out, then click some button to carry out the action
> to see the candidate topics that are found.
>
> Generally with an Index, the list of terms automatically scrolls to match
> what is being typed. So the end user often doesn't have to fully type what
> they are looking for in order to find the term.
>
> Cheers... Rick :)
>
>
> On 10/22/2015 10:37 AM, Elissa K. Miller wrote:
>
>> Assuming budget and time are available, I almost always fight to include a
>> human-generated index.
>>
>> Unless the user knows how to enter their search query with Boolean
>> operators
>> and/or they already have a good idea what they're looking for, a full-text
>> search can return so many hits from so many parts of the product that they
>> have to scroll through dozens of pages to (maybe) find what they're
>> looking
>> for. And an unsophisticated user will not know how to structure good
>> queries. (I remember giving a talk about the Internet at a Book Stop in
>> the
>> early 1990s where a guy wanted to look up Wells Fargo and didn't
>> understand
>> why "bank" wasn't the search term most likely to give him the answer he
>> wanted.) For example, where I work now, there are many different ways that
>> you would issue a refund. If you are an unsophisticated user and you just
>> do
>> a full-text keywords search on "refund," you'll get more than four dozen
>> instances of the word "refund" throughout the online help and it places a
>> lot of cognitive load on an already-frustrated user to figure out which of
>> the 50 instances of the word is the kind of refund that he's looking for.
>>
>> Meanwhile, a high-quality index (generated by a thinking human familiar
>> with
>> the content instead of automatically generated by software) helps people
>> find what they need quickly because they don't have to construct a perfect
>> query that includes knowing product terminology--they can just scroll
>> through the topics until they see what they're looking for.
>>
>> --Elissa
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: techwr-l-bounces+emiller=doubleknot -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>> [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+emiller=doubleknot -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
>> Behalf Of Kari Gulbrandsen
>> Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2015 7:23 PM
>> To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>> Subject: Index
>>
>> Hello, all --
>>
>> Are there any reasons to have an index for an online help system with full
>> text search capability?
>>
>> Thanks all!
>>
>> Kari.
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Sent from Gmail Mobile
>> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>> Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and
>> content development | http://techwhirl.com
>>
>> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>
>> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as emiller -at- doubleknot -dot- com -dot-
>>
>> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
>> techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>>
>>
>> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
>> http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and
>> info.
>>
>> Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online
>> magazine at http://techwhirl.com
>>
>> Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public
>> email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives
>>
>> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>> Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy
>> and content development | http://techwhirl.com
>>
>> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>
>> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as rstone75 -at- kc -dot- rr -dot- com -dot-
>>
>> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
>> techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>>
>>
>> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
>> http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and
>> info.
>>
>> Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our
>> online magazine at http://techwhirl.com
>>
>> Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public
>> email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives
>>
>>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and
> content development | http://techwhirl.com
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as rsshrout -at- gmail -dot- com -dot-
>
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
>
> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
> http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and
> info.
>
> Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online
> magazine at http://techwhirl.com
>
> Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public
> email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives
>
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and content development | http://techwhirl.com

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com


Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and info.

Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.com

Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives


References:
Index: From: Kari Gulbrandsen
RE: Index: From: Elissa K. Miller
Re: Index: From: Rick Stone

Previous by Author: Re: PPT training materials, pdf output (with inter pdf/ppt project hyperlinks) --what is the best tool?
Next by Author: Re: Into the Frying Pan
Previous by Thread: Re: Index
Next by Thread: Re: Index


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads