TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: 1F8CAB asking for help From:Cees Hesp <ceeshesp -at- TIP -dot- NL> Date:Wed, 27 May 1998 23:22:05 +0200
Sudhin,
In my book, an index that points you to multiple, different locations in 600- to 750-page volumes
is never going to be much good. What happens if the index points the reader to 10 different locations?
Do we really expect them to look there first, before they start calling tech support?
A better solution is to provide more detailed index entries. An index entry should point to just *one* item.
If it does not, then either the corresponding items have not been written properly (covering to many different
aspect at once), or the appropriate keywords have not been assigned.
Cees
At 01:00 AM 5/28/98 +0530, Sudhin U Bhobe wrote:
>Hi !
>
>My name is Sudhin and I am writing to you from Icode Inc. I am on the
>technical writing team. Currently at Icode we are developing mission
>critcal business applications,. which will require extensive
>documentation, running into a number of volumes and each volume will run
>into atleast 600-750 pages. Our main concern is that users who refer to
>our documentation should not miss any area and get into a situation
>where they call us for technical support, when the explanation is very
>much present in our documentation set. This will require us to create an
>extensive and detailed Index, which will cover all key/critical areas.
>
>I am very new to technical writing and not very conversant with certain
>techniques.My current task is to create a common index for multiple
>documents.I was browsing the web for a solution, when I fell upon your
>web site. Please consider this as a personal request and help me find a
>solution. I shall be very obliged.
>
>An index entry such as 'Journal' would look as follows if we had a
>common index for say, volume I and volume II:
>
>Journal- page 45 vol I & page 234 vol II
>
>I will look forward to your help in all earnestness.
>
>Thanking you
>
>Regards
>
>Sudhin U. Bhobe
>Icode Software Inc.
>sudhin -at- icodeindia -dot- soft -dot- net
>0091-80-6610493
>
>
>
>
>
