Re: Should i put all glossary terms in the index/serach engine online?

[Chet Ensign <Chet_Ensign%LDS -at- NOTES -dot- WORLDCOM -dot- COM>]

Chuck Martin writes:

<-- So should each term be in the search engine? Or does it depend on the
term? Or does a well-crafted Help file take care of that with all uses
of terms in the glossary linked to pop-ups?
-->

Chuck,

My own feeling is that consistency is the most important thing. If you have a
definable and growing list of glossary terms and many of them are already part
of the search list, then you *must* continue to add terms to that list as you
go. I get frustrated whenever I get an expectation about how an online product
is organized (e.g., I can always find the glossary terms in that search list)
and then suddently find my expectation violated. In the case you are
describing, if I were I reader who routinely turned to the search dialog box,
expecting to find glossary terms included, and suddenly I encountered one that
didn't get a response in that dialog box, I would assume that the term didn't
exist -- *not* that you as writer chose to include it.

Also, since Winhelp doesn't have a full-text search feature in most
incarnations, I'd doubly argue for making that search list as exhaustive as
possible. It is one of the key weaknesses of Winhelp and anything that you can
do to extend or enhance that search list helps your readers in the long run.

Best regards,

/chet

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Chet Ensign                          Phone: (908) 771-9221
Director, Electronic Publishing      Email: chet -at- lds -dot- com
Logical Design Solutions, Inc.       Email(home): censign -at- interserv -dot- com
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