At lastan indexing guide for editors, authors, and designers who need to create, edit, format, or evaluate indexes and work with professional indexers. Three experienced indexer-authors explain the various types of indexes, the characteristics of good indexes, and common formatting considerations. They share dozens of practical tips and over 100 examples of good and bad indexing practices. Publishing professionals will not only learn how to edit an index, but how to hire freelance indexers and maintain successful editor/author/indexer relationships. While geared to the needs of publishing professionals who are not indexers, the book will serve indexers as a guide to navigating the publishing process and explaining indexing processes to their clients.

At last-an indexing guide for editors, authors, and designers who need to create, edit, format, or evaluate indexes and work with professional indexers. Three experienced indexer-authors explain the various types of indexes, the characteristics of good indexes, and common formatting considerations. They share dozens of practical tips and more than 100 examples of good and bad indexing practices. Publishing professionals will not only learn how to edit an index, but how to hire freelance indexers and maintain successful editor/author/indexer relationships.

How to get started in web indexing, embedded indexing, and other computer-based media.

Indexing: A Practical Guide for Technical Writers is a nuts-and-bolts guide to indexing. It explains in plain language and by example exactly how to index any type of print or online publication quickly, easily, and effectively. The sequential indexing method presented in the book has been battle-tested in high pressure publishing organizations in a variety of high-tech industries over the space of a decade. Because it is based on real-world success, this indexing method is bulletproof. Users of this guide will succeed as an indexer. Unlike other books on the subject, this book is focused on readers, not the subject itself. The book speaks directly to highly practical and often anti-academic technical writers who demand usability, reusability, and reliability. It is geared to people with ""Keep It Simple, Stupid"" signs on their cubicle walls.Proven end-user documentation techniques are employed to present proven indexing methods to readers who themselves develop end-user documentation for a living. They have zero tolerance for academic white papers on indexing. So, the book delivers the hard facts.

A step-by-step guide to creating comprehensive and usable technical indexes. Numerous surveys indicate that the most common complaint about technical documents concern a poorly designed index--or the lack of an index altogether! An organized, thoughtful index not only ensures that the contents of your book are accessible, but also increases the value of your book. In The Art of Indexing, professional indexer and editorial consultant Larry Bonura addresses the indexing problems specific to technical documentation and presents practical solutions to those problems. The Art of Indexing shows technical writers, editors, and documentation managers how to chart the topics of their books, reports, and documents and present a concise and accurate map that readers, researchers, libraries, bookstores, and reviewers can use to maximize the usefulness of their book. Step-by-step, The Art of Indexing shows you how to become a better indexer by: * Discussing the function of an index * Showing how to estimate indexing time * Presenting methods for selecting entries and subentries * Reviewing reasons for cross-referencing * Describing how to treat locators * Offering an extensive editing checklist for reviewing indexes * Covering indexing for online documents * Including numerous usability tests for verifying the strength of an index * Containing information on indexing standards * Providing sample indexes and a sample indexing style guide * And much more!

Since 1994, Nancy Mulvany's Indexing Books has been the gold standard for thousands of professional indexers, editors, and authors. This long-awaited second edition, expanded and completely updated, will be equally revered. Like its predecessor, this edition of Indexing Books offers comprehensive, reliable treatment of indexing principles and practices relevant to authors and indexers alike. In addition to practical advice, the book presents a big-picture perspective on the nature and purpose of indexes and their role in published works. New to this edition are discussions of "information overload" and the role of the index, open-system versus closed-system indexing, electronic submission and display of indexes, and trends in software development, among other topics. Mulvany is equally comfortable focusing on the nuts and bolts of indexing—how to determine what is indexable, how to decide the depth of an index, and how to work with publisher instructions—and broadly surveying important sources of indexing guidelines such as The Chicago Manual of Style, Sun Microsystems, Oxford University Press, NISO TR03, and ISO 999. Authors will appreciate Mulvany's in-depth consideration of the costs and benefits of preparing one's own index versus hiring a professional, while professional indexers will value Mulvany's insights into computer-aided indexing. Helpful appendixes include resources for indexers, a worksheet for general index specifications, and a bibliography of sources to consult for further information on a range of topics. Indexing Books is both a practical guide and a manifesto about the vital role of the human-crafted index in the Information Age. As the standard indexing reference, it belongs on the shelves of everyone involved in writing and publishing nonfiction books.

The Indexing Companion, first published in 2007, gives an overview of indexing for professional indexers, editors, authors, librarians and others who may be called upon to write, contribute to, edit or commission an index. It covers basic principles as well as examining controversial areas. It is based on publishing standards, textbooks, and the consensus of the indexing community, gained from participation in various mailing lists. It discusses a wide range of document formats and subjects that require indexing, as well as dipping into new topics on the edge of indexing such as folksonomies and the semantic web. Some people consider indexing to be a dry topic - at the end of this book people should be thinking of indexing as a challenging and rewarding profession.