Index: Making a linked index in epub - Page 2

virtual_ink · 10-17-2011, 09:43 PM

ps: wow, I finally got some Karma!

wannabee · 10-18-2011, 01:23 AM

They should be called ebooknazis, not ebookninjas!

pholy · 10-18-2011, 08:55 AM

Oh come now... they have strong opinions, but they're from Texas, of course they think they're right!

virtual_ink · 10-18-2011, 12:15 PM

You're comparing an auto search function with human intelligence. If a publishing company paid money to have a professional indexer index the book, they obviously see value in that index (and yes, could pay extra for it in the ebook, but still - the manual labour in converting one is crazy).

Not all books with indexes would suffer greatly without them, but some surely would - particularly for use in reference/research. The index will point readers to the most useful, relevant topics - rather than an overkill of low relevance search terms.

Regardless, I didn't come here to defend the index, I don't really care enough (although I think we should push for high standards in ebooks, as a print book really is a simple thing, and its electronic counterpart is getting carried away with bells and whistles while dropping off some historically important features that made book design an art and reading a pleasure) - I came to ask if anyone could help the process of creating one - particularly after having found it continually useful in some of the reference ebooks I use.

No dice? Ok. Thanks anyways.

DaleDe · 10-18-2011, 05:03 PM

Topic indexes are an important kind if index. They should have support in ePub. Somehow some of these important reading things seem to get lost in the ePub committee working on version 3 while they work hard on making it a video player.

virtual_ink · 10-19-2011, 07:39 AM

From memory, when InDesign exports including local overides (a bad idea for clean code, but got me thinking) each paragraph is automatically given an ID.

Maybe a script could be written to auto tag page numbers, search for index terms within the page the term is refering to, tag a para where the term appears, and add a hyperlink cross reference.

Pipe dreamin.

wannabee · 10-19-2011, 11:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by virtual_ink

From memory, when InDesign exports including local overides (a bad idea for clean code, but got me thinking) each paragraph is automatically given an ID. . . . . . . . .snip

There's no id's added to the xhtml mate. Not that I can find anyway. Perhaps you are thinking of the page IDs that ADE assign to the book.

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10-17-2011, 09:43 PM	#16
virtual_ink Zealot Posts: 107 Karma: 1000 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: iPad2, Kindle	ps: wow, I finally got some Karma!

10-18-2011, 01:23 AM	#17
wannabee Media Bloke Posts: 2,381 Karma: 113956855 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: NSW - Australia Device: iOS	They should be called ebooknazis, not ebookninjas!

10-18-2011, 08:55 AM	#18
pholy Booklegger Posts: 1,801 Karma: 7999816 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Device: BeBook(1 & 2010), PEZ, PRS-505, Kobo BT, PRS-T1, Playbook, Kobo Touch	Oh come now... they have strong opinions, but they're from Texas, of course they think they're right!

10-18-2011, 12:15 PM	#19
virtual_ink Zealot Posts: 107 Karma: 1000 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: iPad2, Kindle	You're comparing an auto search function with human intelligence. If a publishing company paid money to have a professional indexer index the book, they obviously see value in that index (and yes, could pay extra for it in the ebook, but still - the manual labour in converting one is crazy). Not all books with indexes would suffer greatly without them, but some surely would - particularly for use in reference/research. The index will point readers to the most useful, relevant topics - rather than an overkill of low relevance search terms. Regardless, I didn't come here to defend the index, I don't really care enough (although I think we should push for high standards in ebooks, as a print book really is a simple thing, and its electronic counterpart is getting carried away with bells and whistles while dropping off some historically important features that made book design an art and reading a pleasure) - I came to ask if anyone could help the process of creating one - particularly after having found it continually useful in some of the reference ebooks I use. No dice? Ok. Thanks anyways.

10-18-2011, 05:03 PM	#20
DaleDe Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,470 Karma: 13095790 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Grass Valley, CA Device: EB 1150, EZ Reader, Literati, iPad 2 & Air 2, iPhone 7	Topic indexes are an important kind if index. They should have support in ePub. Somehow some of these important reading things seem to get lost in the ePub committee working on version 3 while they work hard on making it a video player.

10-19-2011, 07:39 AM	#21
virtual_ink Zealot Posts: 107 Karma: 1000 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: iPad2, Kindle	From memory, when InDesign exports including local overides (a bad idea for clean code, but got me thinking) each paragraph is automatically given an ID. Maybe a script could be written to auto tag page numbers, search for index terms within the page the term is refering to, tag a para where the term appears, and add a hyperlink cross reference. Pipe dreamin.

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