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Subject:Re: When to index? From:Nancy Smith <smithcds -at- ICI -dot- NET> Date:Thu, 29 Jul 1999 10:00:13 -0400
Have any of you tried using Word's Concordance feature for your indexing?
I'm currently using it for some personal writing but haven't tried it in
tech. writing.
Nancy
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Technical Writers List; for all Technical Communication issues
> [mailto:TECHWR-L -at- listserv -dot- okstate -dot- edu]On Behalf Of Geoff Hart
> Sent: Thursday, July 29, 1999 9:04 AM
> To: TECHWR-L -at- listserv -dot- okstate -dot- edu
> Subject: When to index?
>
>
> Kalpana Thakar is <<...currently working on a... lenghty
> manual... in Word. I need to create an Index for this manual.
> When is the best time to create an Index... once I have
> completed the manual or can I start creating an Index right
> now when I am 80% through...?>>
>
> Depends on how you're planning to create the index,
> combined with what technique best fits your personal style.
> The professional indexers I've talked to usually get a
> completed manual (or individual completed sections) to work
> with, so they don't have a choice: they wait until the manual
> is complete. The professional writers I've talked to who
> double as indexers tend to do the work while they write (by
> embedding index tags in the document), since this avoids the
> potentially considerable delays that arise from waiting until
> everything is complete (it never is) to index the manual. As a
> nonprofessional and very occasional indexer, I prefer to do
> the index by hand after the text is complete; if I had to index
> for a living, I'd bite the bullet and learn to index while I wrote.
>
> The only real problem I can think of concerning indexing as
> you write involves cross-referencing: if you don't know what
> related topics exist, it's pretty hard to create "see also"
> references. But with luck, you've got a good product
> overview to work from, so that won't be a problem.
>
> --Geoff Hart @8^{)} Pointe-Claire, Quebec
> geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
>
> "Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from
> acquiring the deadening effect of a habit." -William Somerset Maugham
>
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