Re: FrameMaker Indexing

[Barb Philbrick <caslonsvcs -at- IBM -dot- NET>]

>The old WordPerfect (I'm not up on the current release of this software)
>had a much superior method. You could create a "concordance" file--a
>separate file with just a list of index words. WordPerfect would compare
>this file against the doc file (if you had Master/Sub documents, then to
>all files) and build the index. How I wish Frame had something like this...
I'm glad it doesn't. There is nothing worse for the reader than a
concordance (except possibly no index at all, but it's a close call).
It is incredibly frustrating to look up fifteen instances of a word
that is simply mentioned on a page.

A well-done index includes words that are not included in the book at
all ("template - see style sheet") and variations on phrases
("American robin," "robin, American"  - the index in Peterson's Field
Guide doesn't include these kinds of items and it drives me nuts).
Yes, it's boring, time-consuming, and tedious, but it's hardly worth
doing if you don't do it well.

Not that I'm opinionated about this or anything -

Barb
Barbara Philbric, Caslon Services Inc.

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