RE: Is a bad index better than no index?

Subject: RE: Is a bad index better than no index?
From: Paul Hanson <PHanson -at- Quintrex -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 10:36:40 -0500

I agree with Michele, which is why I 'hide' field help text from the FTS
unless the user specifically says to Customize the search, and then selects
to "Include untitled topics." <I'm talking about .hlp files>.

To me, help text for fields is context-sensitive (whether or not you can
press F1 in a field and have help display) and out-of-context in an index or
FTS. If the user wants to know what a specific field on a specific window
is, they should go to that specific window (the context) and find the
information there.

Paul

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michele Marques [SMTP:]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2001 10:28 AM
> To: TECHWR-L
> Subject: RE: Is a bad index better than no index?
<snip>
> I would further add that even if the user does know the term, a full-text
> search can turn up too many results. For example, there may be a field
> that
> appears throughout the system once it is set up (e.g. company name), but
> the
> user searching for "company name" in an index, is unlikely to want to
> check
> each report (which all display the company name).
<snip>

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

*** Deva(tm) Tools for Dreamweaver and Deva(tm) Search ***
Build Contents, Indexes, and Search for Web Sites and Help Systems
Available now at http://www.devahelp.com or info -at- devahelp -dot- com

Sponsored by Information Mapping, Inc., a professional services firm
specializing in Knowledge Management and e-content solutions. See
http://www.infomap.com or 800-463-6627 for more about our solutions.

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.


Previous by Author: RE: Tech writing class (was suggestions needed...)
Next by Author: RE: New TECHWR-L Poll Question
Previous by Thread: RE: Is a bad index better than no index?
Next by Thread: Re: Is a bad index better than no index?


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


Sponsored Ads