Quote:
Originally Posted by rkomar
Just linking every instance of a word into an index would be a bad idea, but a properly constructed index showing places where terms are defined or demonstrated is a useful thing. It requires the author to mark those spots when writing though, like with the latex \index{} command noted previously. I don't think you could create a good index automatically.
A text search would find the same useful places, but you would have to filter out the unhelpful matches yourself. That can be a chore if the term is used extensively in the document. I don't know how many times I've passed right by the stuff I was looking for while hitting "Find Next" repetitively.
So, I think a proper index is good thing, even in a searchable document. Whether it can be implemented well in an EPUB is another question for those more expert than I am.
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The implementation, however, in an ebook is not the same as it is in Word-->PDF or Word--INDD. The way that the instances are tagged and marked, and utilized, are not the same.
When you tag a word in Word or LaTEX or INDD, a "marker" is placed for that word effectively at the left-most, top-most position of the page, basically saying "here lies Setters, Irish." When the index is built, the page-tag is picked up and displayed, dynamically changing until the final layout is settled. When the reader reads the book, they flip to the page in question and visually skim the page. Ta-da!
But, in an eBook, the tag would have to travel with the word. As it's an ebook, you're talking about a link. The word or phrase
itself would be the target (and thus, on many systems, BLUE and underlined).
There would be no backlinking; there wouldn't be any quickie reference, going forth to the index, choosing to read about Setters, Irish and then flipping quickly to all the "pages" or locations or targets and then back. It would be rather laborious. You'd be
constantly going back to the index, back to the word/phrase, back to the annotations (page numbers, sequence numbers, whatever the hell you'd put there to indicate "Fred said something here") and then tediously going to the next.
The only way you could possibly have any backlinking, from the index to the targeted item, would be if each paragraph or item or phrase or whatever, was only ever linked once. That's not that common, actually.
I should also point out that not all eReaders (yes, I'm lookin' at you, ADE engine!), scroll to the spot in question. So...what's the reader get them? A screen full of text that with any luck, is near the item in question.
It's a vexed question, indices in eBooks and there's no great solution, imho. Tex2002ans and I have wrangled over this innumerable times, trying to come up with "better ways" and the reality is, without investing far more time and effort (than any client will pay), the utility of the result, even an "ideal" result, is not that great.
"Just" having the author or indexer tag the text doesn't
really solve the problems. The only real functionality comes if some poor schmuck sits there and creates a landing at the beginning of each paragraph, (or mid-paragraph or wherever) where a given term is used or discussed and of course, heaven help you if the original index
meant "pages 223,24, 25." I mean, just
fuhgeddaboudit.
We've all beaten this particular horse to death here on MR. I have yet to see a "good" solution to it.
Hitch