|
Summer
1999
Volume 2, # 3 |
B
Y S E T H A. M A I S L I N
Boston Chapter STC
What
happens to a book index when you remove the page numbers? It's called
"indexing online." |
| The value of
pages |
The fastest way to destroy an index is to destroy its
page numbers, and sure enough, the World Wide Web doesn't have page
numbers. Even more, embedded indexing techniques don't require the
indexer's awareness of page numbers.
Consider a single entry from a hypothetical back-of-the-book index:
Telegraph communications, 12, 44-56, 209
There is a lot of information here. We know that the
bulk of information about telegraph communications starts on page 44. We
can assume that the entry on page 12 is an introductory comment. We also
assume that the entry on page 209 is a casual mention, since it is so
completely isolated from the other page numbers. If the book had 215
pages, we might further assume that the last entry points to the glossary
or an appendix.
Online, the entry would feel a lot like this:
Telegraph communications, *, *, *
We no longer know which entry is the most important. We
no longer understand how these documents fit into the entire collection of
documents. We do not know the lengths of the documents themselves. We
cannot even determine the order of the entries. Are they listed by
importance, alphabetically by filename, or chronologically? And are they
even at the same web site?
The loss of page numbers and of global context is the fundamental
handicap to writing a good index. Even the best indexing programs cannot
work around these obstacles because they are side-effects of the essential
nature of online presentations. It is the indexer's responsibility to make
accommodations for the environment. |
| Lost knowledge |
Let's invent a baseline index. Consider this index, which might
appear at the back of a book:
Telegraph communications, 137-153
Dots and dashes, 385
Electricity and its uses, iii-iv
History of early distance communication, 5-9, 6i
The telegraph wire, 137-140
Online, our page numbers become hyperlinks (represented
here by underscoring):
Telegraph communications
Dots and dashes
Electricity and its uses
History of early distance communication
The telegraph wire
Notice how much information has been lost. Fortunately
for us, these headings are descriptive enough so that we can confidently
guess what they mean. Not all authors are as understanding of the user's
needs, however. Consider this nightmare of "clever" headings:
Operator, I'd Like to Send a Message
Beep Beep Beep!
The Power of a Hot Wire
From Shouting to Carrier Pigeon
Hardware
As indexers, it is our responsibility to do better.
|
| Rating context |
The web indexer can rate entries. You could, for example, display
in boldface type any entry that meets a predefined threshold of
importance. This is a binary rating system, in that the entry is either
bold or not bold. Binary rating systems work poorly with subjective
thresholds like "importance" or "relevance," because the reader usually
does not understand the threshold. Continuous rating systems, such as type
size (bigger equals more important) or color (red is more important than
pink, for example), present another dilemma: ugliness. An index with a
cornucopia of line sizes or colors is unprofessional. In fact, the only
real advantage to the binary and continuous rating systems is that they
are both easy to implement.
A discrete rating system with three to five levels is better, similar
to how movies are rated in newspapers. The most intuitive of these is the
"asterisk rating system," where each additional "star" represents slightly
greater importance or relevance. The stars can be added to the beginnings
or ends of the locators. Although this method can make an index look
sloppy, no explanation is needed:
Telegraph communications ****
Dots and dashes
Electricity and its uses
History of early distance communication
The telegraph wire **
Another useful rating method involves tacking words or notations to
entries, such as chapter titles or numbers, section titles, and other
classifiers. This approach is useful when translating from hard copy.
Notice in the following example that there are no special typography
requirements, and that the notations are unambiguous:
Telegraph communications (Chap 5)
Dots and dashes (App C; table)
Electricity and its uses (Preface)
History of early distance communication (Chap 1)
History of early distance communication (Chap 1; illus)
The telegraph wire (Chap 5 Sect 1)
Of course, if there's no hardcopy to refer to, "Chapter 5" becomes
meaningless. Increasingly, online documentation is created without a
hardcopy version in mind, so more appropriate qualifiers need to be
chosen. The qualifiers can be placed at the beginnings or ends of
locators. Here are two examples, sorted by importance. Notice how the
second example accommodates authors with a sense of humor:
Telegraph communications (everything you ever wanted to know about the telegraph)
Electricity and its uses (introduction)
History of early distance communication (introduction)
History of early distance communication (poster-sized timeline, great for classrooms)
The telegraph wire (equipment and hardware)
Dots and dashes (table of telegraph codes)
Telegraph communications: Operator, I'd Like to Place a Call
Electricity introduction: The Power of a Hot Wire
Communications introduction: From Shouting to Carrier Pigeon
Communications timeline, poster-size: From Shouting to Carrier Pigeon
Telegraphy equipment: Hardware
Dot-dash telegraph codes, table: Beep Beep Beep!
|
| Looking forward |
Anything that you can do in a book, you can do online. But the
online environment is nothing like a book in its structure and traditions.
The very definition of "online indexing" is in flux. The theory and
practice of online indexing overlap several other fields of study,
including design, information architecture, programming, and cognitive
science. In fact, authors find that "the index" has evolved into the
information structures they develop before the book is written
--- a strange time indeed to write an index.
Now is not the time to develop design standards and traditions. Let us
instead experiment, with as full an understanding of this new medium as
possible:
- Seek out
and study the many indexes and structures that have been published
already.
- Observe
how indexes are used and request feedback from users.
- Remain
open to new and intriguing possibilities.
And finally,
share what we know. |
