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Originally Posted by Julanna
Thanks anyway eschwartz. It's been an interesting trip, trying to work out non-fiction with and index. Every ereader I use (that can make use of a linked index) puts the 'linked to' text on the page somewhere but not at the top, and even the paragraph isn't at the top.
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That's because of the way that indices are created. If you have created indices in print, you already know the "why" of this. When a print book index is created, it places the "tag," the identifying marker, in the very first position of the upper-left-hand edge of the page, before the first letter of the first word of the first line of the text. This means that in print, it's fine; it is simply identifying the page location. However, when you export that to HTML, the "marker" is now relatively the same "distance away" from the target text, as we'll call it here, as it was before. Forget being "on the same paragraph;" in many e-readers, it will be 2-3 pages (clicked screens) away from the linked text.
The only alternative to this is to make the target ITSELF a link. This means--and many publishers are not enamored of this idea--making the linked target a blue, linked piece of text. OR, inserting something akin to a footnote, but now remember--you're working backwards. The reader would see the link location, but not know what it's for; if they click it, they'd go to the index.
And, this situation gets more complex if multiple items in the index point to the same target. Let's say a paragraph on "Irish setters" is referenced (indexed) in 3 places: Hunting Dogs, Setters, and alphabetically, "Setters, Irish." you could easly have all three source indices jump TO the entry--but then, how does the reader get back to where she was? In the index? You can't have a multiple-location link, that magically takes a reader back to the place they WANT to go; it has to be the place that they can reliably click and GO.
Creating competent indexes is not simple. It's not easy. It's not an "overlooked opportunity." It's a lot--a LOT--of work to do well; it's easy to do badly; it's hard to do if you have enormous, complex indices, both for the multi-linking issue mentioned above, and the "how" of how to mark the target, so that the index can jump TO it. Moreover, how do you indicate what the entries ARE, in an index item that has, say, 10 targets? A, B, C...? You can't use page numbers any longer, as those are obsolete and useless. You could, arguably, keep the DT page numbers, and use those as the anchors, but either way, it's a lot of painstaking work. If you're creating these deep indices from scratch, then keeping track of all of them, naming conventions, etc. (and the infamous, "how to jump back" issue), is a giant pain in the ass.
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In a lot of ways it's as if they are trying to mimic paper books. I see that as a lost opportunity. On the html version of the book at least the 'linked to' text is on the top line so it's easy to find it. There's been some talk lately about books in browsers may be gaining ground and after this little foray I think that may be correct, at least for non-fiction. Fiction is a lot easier in ereaders of any sort.
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If a target is simply identified with a plain link, the jump "to" will ALWAYS land the target text at the top of the screen, except in fixed-format books. When you see a book where this is not true, the target is the aforementioned "marker" that was placed at the upper-left-hand-corner of the page. Otherwise, the linked-to text will always scroll to the top of the page.
Nobody--anywhere--is trying to mimic paper books. It's the creation mechanisms involved that are causing what you see. When publishers are willing to pay for the painstaking type of index creation you want--and when you think about it,
why on earth would they, when "
search" is right at every reader's fingertips???--then the indices will work the way you want them to. But right now, most don't want to pay for the hours it takes to do it right.
Hitch