Re: indexing for web

["Parks, Beverly" <ParksB -at- EMH1 -dot- HQISEC -dot- ARMY -dot- MIL>]

I'm in the process of redesigning our web-based reference guide right now.
Our old web-based guide didn't have an index, just a rather elaborate TOC,
supplemented by a "QuickTOC".

For the new guide, I've decided to go with a combination TOC-index. Each
page of each major section of the guide will have a Local Index at the top.
The local index contains entries that apply only to things contained in the
major section. There is also a button linked to the Reference Guide
Contents.

The Reference Guide Contents is divided into chunks matching the major
sections. Each chunk contains the local index for the section. There is a 3-
column Topic Index at the top of the Contents page so that users can jump to
a major section. So the Reference Guide Contents looks something like this
(sample very abbreviated and not formatted). The up arrow (^) symbol is a
link back up to the topic index.

     TOPIC INDEX
Basic Operations
Pay Factors
Reports

-------------------------
^   Basic Operations
-------------------------

Calendar, dropdown
Column width, adjusting
Columns, move
Contact info, show
Copy text
Dates

--------------------------
^   Pay Factors
--------------------------

Billing rate, create
Billing rate, discard
Button, warning
Create pay change record
Discard pay change record
Pay changes
Warning button

-------------------------
^   Reports
-------------------------

etc.

The primary method of access to the reference guide is by pressing a Help
button in the product. This method takes the user directly to the pertinent
page, depending on what screen he's on when Help is pressed. The ref guide
may also be accessed directly from the product support website. Entering it
that way starts at the Contents page. The reference guide doubles as the
online help. It may sound crazy to most of you, but it is strictly an
in-house product so I'm free to experiment with different methods.

Bev Parks

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jessica N. Lange [SMTP:jlange -at- OEE -dot- COM]
>
> Because I had the time, and I wanted to learn about it, I've been
> busy putting a just-released Users Guide into html, for eventual
> access from our corporate intranet only--intended audience:
> cust support, trainers, & sw developers. Now I face the task
> of indexing this beast.
>
> The Question: has anyone figured out a relatively easy
> way to do this? Or a somewhat less painful way? Anyone
> developed an efficient workflow for indexing?
>
        [snip]

 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=